Tag Archives: art theft

Biggest Art Theft Ever??

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Workers at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris noticed a broken window before noticing the 5 missing masterpiece in what was probably a commissioned art heist this morning. Picasso’s ‘Dove with Green Peas’ (1912), Matisse’s ‘Pastoral’ (1906), George Braque’s ‘Landscape with Olive Tree’ (1906), Amedeo Modogliani’s ‘Woman with a Fan’ (1919) and Fernand Leger’s ‘Still Life with a Chandelier’ (1922) were taken. Read more about it here.

I love a good art theft–I just finished a novel about an art theif after all–and what a loot! If it weren’t for the fact that now I’ll never be able to view the works myself, I would be impressed. Currently I’m just jealous.

Extra! Extra! Stolen Klee Returned

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Portrait in the Garden, Paul Klee, 1930

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned a stolen Klee painting to Marlborough Gallery in Manhattan after 21 years. The painting, valued at $100,000, will now go to the insurer of the gallery.

In response to the news, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is reported to have said, “It’s not fair! They aren’t even offering a reward!” The Gardner Museum retired early to bed with a case of false hope.

Holiday Movie Rec: The Maiden Heist

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It is still the holidays, right? Well, if you are scrounging around for something to do with all your free time before the New Year begins, may I suggest:

Art + Crime + Christopher Walken doing comedy=
The Maiden Heist.


Obviously, I quite like the elements both separately and together. It’s a fairly good film, certainly passable holiday entertainment, but you probably won’t hear about it because the financing company had a bit of a hiccup and poof went the money for promotion.




The Maiden Heist stars Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy, and Marcia Gay Harden in a comedy centered on three museum security guards who devise a plan to steal back their favorite artworks before they are transferred to another museum. It’s a labor of love, and the characters get into all the trouble you might expect and then some. It’s really worth it just to see Christopher Walken in a snorkel mask at the end. Just a thought if you don’t know what to do with yourselves over the break.