Why Are we obsessed with Art Heists?

It feels like something from yesteryear. Art Heists have always captured peoples imagination and having a breadth of knowledge on this area can be seen as a highly attractive quality. Perhaps I've just seen The Thomas Crown Affair far too many times. Maybe it's because I have a commissioned likeness drawing of the Lady With Fan by Modigliani hanging on my wall. But I've always had a bizarre interest in the world of stolen art. You can sense the buzz of excitement in the room ramp up when I talk about the most famous art heists.

Why does stolen art fascinate people?

I believe people love unsolved mysteries. Loch Ness has built an entire tourism industry around it. We are so used to having answers for everything. Having everybody counted and everything documented, stowed in its correct box on the correct shelf and so on. When something goes missing, or moreover, when it stolen then it metastases into something illusory, almost mythical. So what are the most famous art heists of all time? And how can I get a broader knowledge on the subject?

Books

Next up on my reading list will be Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by various authors. Available on Amazon for £5.67. Art security expert Anthony M. Amore and award-winning investigative reporter Tom Mashberg reveal the actors behind the major Rembrandt heists in the last century. Through thefts around the world—from Stockholm to Boston, Worcester to Ohio—the authors track daring entries and escapes from the world's most renowned museums. There are robbers who coolly walk off with multimillion dollar paintings; self-styled art experts who fall in love with the Dutch master and desire to own his art at all costs; and international criminal masterminds who don't hesitate to resort to violence.

A friend of mine recommended The Art Thief , my friend describes it as thus;

It was a true story of an un/underemployed Stephan Breitweiser who lived with his girlfriend in a flat above his mother’s flat in his mother’s  house. In a 7 -10 year period managed to steal anywhere from $2-$3B in value consisting of 240 art works comprised of paintings; teapots; silver cups; knives; tobacco tins; rugs.   He displayed them all around his flat.  It was like a mini museum. At the height of his criminal activities Breitweiser was in his mid-twenties to early thirties. His /their crimes were committed throughout France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.  Him and his girlfriend dressed-she-in Chanel or Dior bought from thrift shops and him understated men’s designer.  She was a lookout and he would use nothing more than a Swiss army knife to help him dislodge paintings form their frames; other artefacts from display cases.

Films

Outside of the obvious and aforementioned Thomas Crown Affair there is The Duke, 2020. It tells the story of 60-year-old Kempton Bunton who stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. At the time the painting was missing it was featured for all of 5 seconds in the James Bond film Dr. No. Bond casually glances at the painting in Dr No's lair before being seated for dinner.

Do Dr NO's really exist?

This has brought about wider speculation as to who really steals these paintings? Is it for some maniacal villain in his lair to look at lasciviously whenever he pleases? Are we really supposed to believe these figures exist beyond the realm of Hollywood. Arthur Brand, dubbed the Indiana Jones of the Art World, broached this theory when speaking to the Washington Post.

"[...] these Dr. Nos do not exist. There are organisations that do art-napping for different reasons, such as the IRA, which in the Nineties used art thefts as a kind of blackmail. It was an insurance policy so as soon as they got caught they could negotiate about returning the painting and try to get a deal. It’s the same with the Italian mafia, which is also a very huge participant in the art crime.”

So what are the top 3 famous art heists that have never been recovered?

1. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist (1990): Thieves stole 13 pieces of art, including works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Degas, valued at over $500 million. The documentary is on Netflix, but also on YouTube.

2. Lady With Fan - Modigliani. Modigliani was one of the important artist to be targeted by the thieves during the heist at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010. Featured in Skyfall.

3. And how about this. Yes I class an Aston Martin as a work of art. James Bond's original 1963 Aston Martin DB5, which was stolen from an airport hangar in Florida in 1997, has been found in the Middle East. I emailed the detectives and he replied and said it will take forever to get that car out of there. Read the article here.

Podcast recommendation 

And finally here is the podcast that I've been listening to on my morning dog walks. The story of the Missing Madonna which can be found on BBC sounds, and reviewed on the Telegraph here. 

 Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash