With more than 3 billion people self-isolating, most public places across the world have been shut down, including museums across the Netherlands.
Evidently, that led some opportunist thieves to take advantage. While the Dutch museum was closed, the Vincent Van Gogh oil painting ‘Spring Garden’ was stolen in a daring overnight raid.
“We are deeply shocked, angry and sad. A beautiful and moving painting by one of our greatest artists has been withdrawn from the community,” Singer Laren’s director Jan Rudolph de Lorm said in a statement on the museum’s website.
“It is terrible for the Groninger Museum and also for Singer Laren, but especially for all of us. Because art is there to be shared, to enjoy, to be inspired and to be comforted, especially in times like this.”
The 1884 paiting was on load from the Groninger Museum for an exhibition.
According to a statement, police are investigating the theft.
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