Many museums and art galleries in Europe are now closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. This eventually gives the thieves a chance to break in. On March. 30th , the officials of Singer Laren Museum, Netherland, reported a theft. The stolen artwork is Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (Lentetuin, de pastorietuin te Nuenen in het voorjaar) by Vincent van Gogh done by 1884.
Singer Laren Museum, Netherland, was enforcing temporary lockdown, and a painting by Dutch post-impressionism master Vincent van Gogh was stolen at 3:15 a.m. March 29th , which is coincidentally this great artist’s 167th birthday. The officials said the next day that the thief broke through the glass door to get into the museum. They also replied that the stolen artwork Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was on loan from Groninger Museum and was displayed in the exhibition Mirror of the Soul (Spiegel van de ziel) co-organized with Amsterdam National Museum (Rijksmuseum). The officials of Groninger Museum made a statement after the theft was reported, saying that the oil on paper on panel completed by 1884 was their single collection of Van Gogh’s artworks. “We are very shocked. The police are now investigating this case with their full effort.” said the officials.
Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring is one of Van Gogh’s serial artworks that has been done while he lived with his parents in Nuenen. This painting demonstrates the old church and the garden where his minister father lived in. Van Gogh composed the image at the point of view from his father’s house. This painting is considered one of the Van Gogh’s earliest artworks completed in Nuenen.
During a press conference on YouTube, the museum’s director, Jan Rudolph de Lorm, said they were incredibly upset, shocked, and depressed by the theft. According to the Dutch press, the estimated value of this stolen painting by Vincent Van Gogh is up to € 6m. The local police have begun investigation and continuously trying to have access of all the urveillance cameras settled near by the area.
This is however not the first time Van Gogh’s painting being stolen. In 1991, the theft with the total value about € 436m happened in Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherland. This 20 stolen paintings of Van Gogh’s late period were soon found out in an abandon car near the train station after 35 minutes when the theft occurred.
Another case happened in 2002. Two Van Gogh’s paintings, Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, also displayed in Van Gogh Museum, were stolen. 14 years later, these paintings were finally found in Italy and were sent back to Van Gogh Museum for restoration.
Vincent Van Gogh was a post-impressionism painter and a pioneer of expressionism. His artworks have huge impact on the 20th century art. On December 23rd 1888, Van Gogh cut off his ear, then was sent to lunatic asylum. His life was mostly drifty and miserable. After struggling with poverty and mental illness for his whole life, Van Gogh committed suicide by shooting himself on July 27th 1890, and died two days later.
Few works were successfully sold during Van Gogh’s lifetime, but after his death, the fame of this legendary genius artist bring his artworks to sky-high prices on art auction market.
In 1990, Van Gogh’s painting Portrait of Dr. Gachet, done by 1890, was sold on Christie’s with the hammer price of $ 82.5m, which is also the highest price of artwork auction ever. The winning bidder was the Siegfried Kramarsky family. The man in this portrait was Dr. Gachet, who take care of Van Gogh at the time he was suffering from mental illness. During the time of treatment, Dr. Gachet encouraged Van Gogh to not give up painting. Some well-known master pieces, such as Starry Night, The Bedroom at Arles, and The Irises were all completed while this treatment period. Another paining Laboureur dans un champ demonstrates the scene looking out from the window of Van Gogh’s room in Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de- Provence, Provence, France. This painting was sold on Christie’s with the hammer price of $ 81.3m, the winning bidder was a Chinese.
Figure 1：Self-Portrait, September 1889 Oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm © Musée d'Orsay
Figure 2 top left：遺失的14年後找回的作品之一，《Sea at Scheveningen》斯赫弗寧的海景© Van Gogh Museum
Figure 2 left bottom：《春天在紐南的牧師花園》於3月30日被盜 © Groninger Museum
Figure 2 top right：Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, January 1889 © Van Gogh Museum
Figure 2 right bottom：The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh, October 1888 © Van Gogh Museum
