Thieves Steal Warhol Print of Queen Elizabeth
In the Netherlands, thieves used heavy explosives to enter an art gallery and steal two works by famed American artist Andy Warhol. They left two others damaged in the street as they fled.
The heist took place at MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, which featured four prints of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini. The thieves got away with portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Margrethe, while the prints of Queen Beatrix and Queen Ntombi Tfwala were damaged and left on the street.
"The bomb attack was so violent that my entire building was destroyed," MVP Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser told the Associated Press, calling the thieves "amateurish." (The destruction can be viewed here.) He continued, "Then they ran to the car with the artworks and it turns out that they won’t fit in the car.... At that moment the works are ripped out of the frames and you also know that they are damaged beyond repair, because it is impossible to get them out undamaged." The AP deemed it a "botched heist."
Visser had planned to offer the set of four prints for sale later this month. It will be difficult for the thieves to sell the stolen works, according to art historian Willem Baars. Because each print is numbered, they will be immediately recognizable as the ones stolen from MPV Gallery. Plus, Baars adds, "If there is even a tear in the paper, they are destroyed and worthless. They are extremely vulnerable."
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