Breaking both the lockdown as well as the law, thieves smash into Netherlands‘ Singer Laren Museum, to steal 136-year-old Van Gogh painting. By Tanvi Jain
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The whole purpose of the lockdown was to make people stay indoors and save themselves from contracting the deadly coronavirus, that has taken thousands of lives across the globe and has infected lakhs of people. While many law-abiding citizens have taken it seriously, for some criminals, it has turned out to be an opportunity to break the law.
In an unfortunate incident at Singer Laren Museum in Laren, the Netherlands, a 136-year-old painting by Vincent Van Gogh, was stolen on March 30, at 03:15 am, after thieves broke into the museum by smashing the front door. Despite the burglar alarm, the thieves managed to flee by the time the cops arrived.
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The day also marks the painter’s 167th birth anniversary. The same was confirmed by Van Gogh Museum on their official twitter handle, that said, “We’re so sad that today, on Vincent van Gogh’s birthday, burglars broke into @SingerLaren and stole this work, on loan from @GroningerMuseum. We hope they get caught soon!”
The painting titled — Van Gogh’s Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring – is an artwork of 1884, that shows a person standing in a garden surrounded by trees, and Church tower in the background. Its total worth is estimated to be over INR 47 crore; and was reportedly on loan from the Groninger Museum, for a special exhibition — Mirror of the Soul.
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Amid worldwide lockdown, all the museums, galleries, etc. have been shut, until further notice. However, for the Singer Laren Museum, the attempt to avoid social distancing, and curb the spread of coronavirus, backfired.
A similar robbery had also taken place eight years ago at an art museum in Rotterdam, where the thieves had stolen seven paintings, worth over INR 8 billion, including the works of Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse and Lucian Freud.
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