Paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Gauguin stolen from Dutch museum
  • AFP
  • October 17, 2012

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Famous paintings stolen in Holland

Seven paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet have been stolen from a Dutch museum.

SEVEN paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet were stolen from a museum in Rotterdam in an early-hours heist, Dutch police said.

The theft at the Kunsthal museum is one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, and is a stunning blow for the private Triton Foundation collection, which was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time.

A investigator searches Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum for clues after art thieves made off with seven paintings including works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
Waterloo Bridge, London by Claude Monet is one of seven paintings stolen during a break-in at Rotterdam's Kunsthal.

The collection was on display as part of celebrations surrounding Kunsthal's 20th anniversary.

Dutch police handout shows the painting "Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite La Fiancee" by Paul Gauguin stolen during a break-in at Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum. AFP / Dutch police

Police spokeswoman Willemieke Romijn said investigators were reviewing videotapes of the theft, which took place around 3am local time, and calling for any witnesses to come forward. Police have yet to reveal how the heist took place.
Dutch police handout shows the painting "Charing Cross Bridge, London" by Claude Monet stolen during a break-in at Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum. AFP / Dutch police

The stolen works were Picasso's 1971 Harlequin Head; Monet's 1901 Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London; Henri Matisse's 1919 Reading Girl in White and Yellow; Paul Gauguin's 1898 Girl in Front of Open Window; Meyer de Haan's Self-Portrait, around 1890, and Lucian Freud's 2002 work Woman with Eyes Closed.
Forensic investigators take samples of footstep imprints outside the Kunsthal museum after the early morning art heist.

Mariette Maaskant of the Kunsthal museum said the paintings taken were of "considerable value." Independent experts said the works were clearly worth millions of dollars but would be impossible to sell on the open market.
The empty space where Henri Matisse' painting "La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune" was hanging at Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. Seven paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet were stolen from a museum inan early-hours heist. AP Photo/Peter Dejong

The museum's director Emily Ansenk had been in Istanbul, Turkey, on business but was returning today.
The Triton Foundation is a collection of avant-garde art put together by multimillionaire Willem Cordia, an investor and businessman, and his wife, Marijke Cordia-Van der Laan.
The Kunsthal museum is a display space that has no permanent collection of its own - the name means "art gallery" in Dutch.
The Cordia family collection includes works by more than 150 famed artists. Others whose work was on show include Paul Cezanne, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Edgar Degas and Andy Warhol.
Curators of the Cordia family collection aim to have the works on display for the public, and pieces have been shown in the past.
The museum is closed due to the police investigation.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/tru...-1226497256567