three armed thieves dressed in black and wearing ski masks stole four paintings from an art museum just outside Zurich yesterday. the works stolen were "Count Lepic and his Daughters" (1871), by Edgar Degas, "Poppies near Vetheuil" (1879), by Claude Monet,"Boy in the Red Waistcoat" (1888), by Paul Cezanne, and "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" (1890), by Vincent van Gogh. their estimated worth surpasses 163 million dollars.
and if you're envisioning the type of romanticized heists depicted in the Thomas Crowne Affair or Oceans 11 you'll be disappointed to learn that these three simply busted through the front door with guns and made their demands. talk about lack of panache. while one of the thieves ordered everyone to the floor, the other two removed the pieces from the walls. the three then escaped in a white car with the four paintings hanging from the trunk, fully visible. they were not the most expensive pieces in the museum, but are nonetheless considered priceless.
its probably safe to assume that these pieces will soon be hanging in the foyer of some drug lord's palace.
its hard for art museums to fully secure pieces without ruining the experience for museum visitors. any of you who have seen the Mona Lisa the Louvre know exactly what i mean... it is encased in thick glass diminishing the intimacy of the experience. many security systems in museums are fake. think how expensive it would be for each piece in every museum to be properly secured.
real bummer.
on
Monday, February 11, 2008
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