(MENAFN- AzerNews) A stolen van gogh drawing found near a public toilet 20 years
ago is on public display, Azernews reports.
Although Van Gogh`s watercolors are rarely exhibited to minimize
fading, they are now on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in
London at the exhibition "Impressionists on Paper: from Degas to
Toulouse-Lautrec", which will last until March 10, 2024.
In the early morning of April 27, 2003, three works were stolen
from the Manchester Whitworth Gallery. Along with Van Gogh`s
painting "Fortifications of Paris with Houses" (1887), Paul
Gauguin's "Tahitian Landscape" (1891-93) and Pablo Picasso's
"Poverty" (1903) were taken out.
A day later, after a phone call, they were found at a closed
public toilet building located 200 meters away on the edge of a
small park, next to soaked leaves and garbage. It was a rainy day
and a police statement described the weather as "extremely bad" and
that the thief had bypassed the gallery's security system. Hence,
there was an assumption that the incident could have been "work
from the inside." It is still a mystery whether the theft was
committed by someone who really wanted to draw attention to the
flaws in the security system, or quickly realized that it would be
difficult to get rid of the works. It is even possible that they
had remorse. In any case, security measures were immediately
tightened at the Whitworth Gallery. But even twenty years later, no
one was charged with theft.
It is not surprising that the "Fortification of Paris with
houses" suffered. On the right side, there was a tear 12 cm thick,
creases, and minor paint losses. Fortunately, the damage was not
much more serious. The watercolor was restored a few months after
the theft, and now the damage is barely visible to the naked
eye.
"Fortifications of Paris with Houses" is a scene on the northern
outskirts of the capital, a little more than a kilometer north of
the apartment that Vincent shared with his brother Theo. In 1926,
the watercolor was bought for 157 pounds by the owner of the
Manchester Cotton Company, Thomas Barlow (1883-1964), who
immediately donated it to Whitworth. When a Van Gogh painting was
loaned for an earlier exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1962, it
was insured for 7,500 pounds. Her current valuation is
confidential, but she is certainly worth several million.
The exhibition "Impressionists on Paper: from Degas to
Toulouse-Lautrec" also presents five other works by Van Gogh:
"Entrance to the City Credit Bank on Lombard Street in The Hague"
(March 1882, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), "Thatched Roofs" (March
1884, Tate, London), "A peasant woman carrying wheat in an apron"
(July-August 1885, Kreller-Muller Museum, Otterlo), "Bust of a
Young Warrior" (March-May 1886, Van Gogh Museum) and "Thistle on
the Roadside" (August 1888, Van Gogh Museum).
MENAFN28112023000195011045ID1107502532
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.