Janet Writes

Art theft remains a hot topic in the media of late, spurred by a recent audacious heist which took place in Zurich, Switzerland on February 10, 2008. In broad daylight, three men in ski masks snatched a Cézanne, a Degas, a van Gogh and a Monet, together estimated at $163 million.

Only four days prior, two Picassos were stolen, also in Switzerland. While the Picassos remain at large, it is reported the four Impressionist paintings were found Monday night in an unlocked vehicle in the parking lot of a psychiatric hospital.

Montreal’s own Museum of Fine Arts has been victim of theft, a major heist having occured in the ’70s wherein 18 paintings and 37 decorative pieces and jewelry were swiped. Included in the loot were a Delacroix, a Gainsborough and a rare Rembrandt. Only one painting and one piece of jewelry have been recovered. The Rembrandt alone is estimated today at $20 million.

The details of this theft make for a blockbuster Bond-esque screenplay, replete with ski-mask donning and sawed-off shotgun toting burglars, a covert entrance through a skylight (curiously disalarmed due to maintenance), hog-tied security guards (Okay, they may not have been “hog-tied” but they were tied up), and a mistakenly-tripped alarm at the last minute.

In the days following, the museum’s attempts to negotiate with the burglars involved anonymous photograph deliveries in manila envelopes, phone calls directed to public phone booths, drop-offs botched by the police, one stolen painting left in a bus station locker, and a strategically placed cigarette package on a sidewalk containing a stolen piece of jewelry.

Art Bites

• According to Interpol, only drug and weapons trafficking surpasses art theft as a criminal enterprise. It is estimated that more than $8.5 billion worth of fine art is stolen every year.
• Currently (2005) on the international scene, some missing works include 250 works by Marc Chagall, 271 Mirós and 355 Picassos. Interpol estimates that only one in five stolen artworks is ever recovered.