A rare painting by Vincent van Gogh has been stolen from a Dutch museum that was closed in the wake of the coronavirus.
The Singer Laren museum in the Netherlands confirmed the disappearance of ‘Spring Garden’ in a burglary that took place on March 30.
Describing the scene, the Dutch media explained that the thieves came through the front glass door around 3 am.
Like other museums in Amsterdam, such as Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, Singer Laren museum was also closed from March 12 because of the virus outbreak.
Jan Rudolph de Lorm, the museum director, said he was ‘shocked’ at the theft since the museum was guarded ‘entirely according to protocol.’
He said: “This is extremely difficult, especially in these times. This splendid and moving artwork by one of our great artists has been stolen, taken from the community.”
According to NOS, the artwork was taken on loan from a museum in Groningen, Netherlands.
The painting that was made in 1884 depicted a woman in a beautiful garden of red-flowered bushes with a church behind the scene.
After Gogh’s father was selected as a parson for a small church, he had to live in a rector’s house with his parents.
Speaking of the Dutch master’s childhood life, Groninger Museum stated: “The atmosphere in the van Gogh home was often strained; Vincent was quick to take offense at his father’s remarks.”
The current worth of the artistic painting isn’t known yet, however, an estimate can be made by the fact that a similar piece of art from the Neunen era was auctioned at $13.5m before the lockdown.
Moreover, Gogh’s masterpiece of Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers was sold for £25m ($31m) in 1987 which is about £60m ($75m) according to today’s currency value.
A portrait of Dr. Gachet made by Gogh was purchased by a Japanese for $82.5m in 1990 which is equivalent to an amount of $150m these days.
Singer Laren, which is famous for having 3,000 works from different Dutch art masters, has artworks from Piet Mondrian, Jan Toorop and Auguste Rodin among other notable artists.
Replaced!