Van Gogh painting stolen in Cairo

[alp227]

Source: BBC News

A Van Gogh painting worth $50 million has been stolen from a museum in Cairo, Egypt's minister of culture has said.

The painting, known both as both Poppy Flowers and Vase And Flowers, was "cut from its frame" on Saturday, Farouk Hosni told the AFP agency.

Police are studying security camera footage and questioning employees at the Mahmoud Khalil museum, he added.

The same painting was previously taken from the same museum in 1977, but recovered a decade later.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11050040

[dipsydoodle]

1. His ear is believed to be missing

.

[hlthe2b]

2. I heard a radio news report a little while ago that it has been recovered...

I'm sure there will be an update sometime soon...

[gateley]

3. It's been recovered:

Egypt foils bid to smuggle stolen Van Gogh work
CAIRO | Sat Aug 21, 2010 5:45pm EDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Thieves stole a Van Gogh painting from a Cairo museum on Saturday but it was recovered within hours when two Italian suspects were detained at the city's airport trying to smuggle it abroad, state media reported.

Airport security caught a young Italian man with the painting by the Dutch post-Impressionist master and also detained his companion, a young Italian woman, the state news agency said, citing Culture Minister Farouk Hosni.

The painting had been taken earlier in the day from Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil Museum on the banks of the River Nile. In an Arabic statement issued earlier, the Culture Ministry identified the painting as "The Poppy Flower."

Security had tracked down visitors to the museum and the Italian couple had been suspected after an employee spotted them visiting a bathroom then swiftly leaving, the state's MENA news agency said.

Saturday's total of visitors had been only 11 at the museum, which is home to one of the Middle East's finest collections of 19th and 20th century art and includes works by Gauguin, Monet, Manet and Renoir.

Some Spanish visitors had been searched, MENA said.

The museum contains works put together by the politician Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil, who died in 1953.

The culture minister had earlier instructed security forces to take measures to ensure the painting did not leave the country. It was not immediately clear exactly how the painting was stolen.

(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Charles Dick)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67K20520100821

[MilesColtrane]

4. Art thieves are scum.

[elleng]

5. FOUND!

[ozymandius]

6. And to think someone stashed it at DU.

Wonders never cease. Who could've done such a thing?

[elleng]

7. Dunno, ozy; lots of characters around here!

[wordpix]

16. wow, that's a gorgeous painting

Big Van Gogh fan here. Glad they found it

[rasputin1952]

8. How can anyone be so stupid as either steal the painting...

or finance it's theft? Sure, you might not be found out, but now you possess a canvas that can never be shown. What is gained by that? I'm glad they found it...but cut from it's frame...:grr:

[krispos42]

9. It must be that for some it is the joy of possession

perhaps to show to a few select people that you are in an Epic Battle of the Super Egos with.


And when I read it had be cut from the frame...



Well, remember the scene in "National Treasure" when the tube containing the original Declaration of Independence is run over by a car?


Yeah, same feeling.

[rasputin1952]

10. I figure it would be essentially impossible to show it to anyone...

best of friends, even family can be persuaded with a heft reward...and morons that have to "outdo" other morons, I figure the moron seeing the canvas that moron #1 came up with, could easily get rid of a competitor...:D

"National Treasure" was a good flick, I would not call it excellent, but there were great points about history being made. I don't think there is a room filled w/a gazillion artifacts...I enjoyed watching it...:hi:

[krispos42]

12. I would suspect that the circle of friends would each have something felonious

Therefore the circle would be secure. Behind a wall of expensive lawyers, of coure.

Hello, Ras! :hi:

[rasputin1952]

14. How are you doing these days?...

Have you adapted the the, "HEY, how come the screen is so empty?" yet...:D

[krispos42]

18. It still jolts sometimes

Worst part was changing the number of times I had to hit "tab" to get to the "Post" command.

"Three, not four, dammit!!!" :D

[3waygeek]

17. Who was driving that car?

Bush or Cheney?

[MilesColtrane]

11. I'm sure they could have found buyers for it.

As the very, very rich become more jaded with what their fortunes can buy, there will always be some who just have to have that one special thing that sets them apart from their buddies and the expensive junk they have.

I mean, when you can buy it all, what is there to really left to make you feel better than the rest?

It wouldn't even matter to them if almost no one saw it.

They would have it in a special locked room where they could go at night after a couple of shots of Mortlach 70-Year-Old Speyside, and just sit there digging themselves.

[rasputin1952]

15. I recall reading about the post-WWII art/treasure stuff the Nazi's

looted, and how most of it was brought here to the US. Some of that stuff is still here, but most has been returned to the country where it was taken from. When I was younger, at the 1964 NY Worlds Fair, they had the Pieta on view, absolutely incredible, if I'm not mistaken someone damage it w/a hammer a while back, that's like cutting this canvas out of the frame. Incredible what some people will do...:(

[dipsydoodle]

13. Thought found but still missing

A Van Gogh painting worth $50 million stolen from a Cairo museum is still missing, Egypt's culture minister says.

Earlier Farouk Hosni had said two Italians had been arrested at Cairo airport, and the small canvas found.

But later he said he had been given "inaccurate" information, and the painting was still missing.

The painting - known as both Poppy Flowers and Vase And Flowers - was "cut from its frame" at the Mahmoud Khalil Museum on Saturday, Mr Hosni said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11050207