"The Scream" by Edvard Munch. Why Steal It?

[mopaul]

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=the+scream/v=2/SID=e/l=IVI/*-

this is the second time in ten years that this icon painting has been stolen. yesterday's robbery was in broad daylight. ten years ago when it was stolen, it was held for ransom. it's too famous to sell to anyone, and considered priceless. why steal this painting?
political reasons? more of a stunt than a theft? i don't get it.
the painting's o.k., a little over rated perhaps, but i sure don't get why someone would want to swipe it.

[chelsea0011]

1. I guess because it is so easy to do????????

[SoCalDem]

2. Not stolen...escaped

[giant_robot]

21. LOL!

That's frickin' hysterical. And who knew that the "scream guy" looks like Adam West as Batman from the waist down?

[REP]

3. Nothing's Too Famous To Sell

There will always be private collectors willing to pay a huge amount of money for a particular thing to be stolen just for the pleasure of owing it. Display is not a big part of what drives collectors.

[Kellanved]

4. Well

This is not the same painting that was stolen last time. There are at least four versions of "The Scream"; the one stolen the last time was another one.

I guess the robbers have a sense of humor, as they picked the anniversary of the Mona Lisa theft for their action.
IMHO it was either a paid job of somebody willing to do anything to get the painting or another case of Art-napping.

[mopaul]

7. i heard munch made dozens of the things

because they were such a hit and easy money. i also heard they have no actual security at this museum

[Kellanved]

9. yes and the police took 15 minutes to get there.

The museum guards were unarmed (but would have been outgunned anyway).

To make things worse, the painting was not insured - bad news in the case of an Art-Napping.


Similar thefts have happened in Stockholm and Copenhagen, although arrests were made in those cases.

[salvorhardin]

5. As I understand it

art thefts are usually commissioned jobs. There are rich collectors out there that would go to any length to have something in their personal collection. Sure, they'll never be able to publicly display it, but that doesn't matter to them so much as they *have* it. Mine, mine, all mine. Disgusting but true.

[stellanoir]

6. Wealthy art collectors' appetites can become

in some cases be obsessively insatiable.

That's what was assumed after the heist at the Gardner Museum in Boston a few years ago anyway.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. Vermeer's "The Concert" was stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston

and has never been recovered. It was one of Vermeer's finest and worth tens of millions. The rumor is that it's in a private collection.

[lil-petunia]

10. More migraine sufferers across the world relate to this image

more than even to the works of Hieronymous Bosch.

I can see a suffer thinking that some Dorian Gray thing is at work here, and wanting solely to destroy this piece of cardboard. (it is media on cardboard, and considered extremely fragile.)

[Village Idiot]

11. It's always been

one of my favorites!

[mopaul]

12. i had the five foot tall inflatable version

some outfit in st. louis makes them. a small blowup version too.

[mopaul]

13. get your inflatable scream doll HERE

https://www.onthewallproductions.com/newindex.html

[Swamp Rat]

14. This REALLY sucks! I went to the Edvard Munch museum in 2000

You're right, it's a bit overrated, but it sucks anyway. My mother is a well-known artist in New Orleans and had one of her pieces vandalized at the Contemporary Art Center. They stole a ceramic, Mycenaean skull from one of her sculptures because "it was cool." Idjits!

[Flubadubya]

15. Over rated??? I dunno mopaul...

Speaking only of technique, you may be right. But the content and message it conveys seems to get only more relevant and pertinent as time goes by. It certainly seems to fit your affect a lot these days. Hah! :evilgrin: :silly:

[mopaul]

16. it's groundbreaking impressionist-wise

and i love it's minimalism and dreamy quality. and it cuts right through the crap and delivers it's message of anxiety and despair and fear of the modern world. i like the technique and the rendering a lot actually. and i love all of munch's work. we've grown to love the little screamy guy over the centuries.

[wurzel]

17. It reminds me of the way the media portrayed Howard Dean.

[kimchi]

18. "The Thomas Crown Affair" perhaps?

An art lover steals for shits and giggles? Nah. Probably a rich wanker (literally).

[blalock]

19. reminds me of the buddha statues destroyed by the taliban

everyone cried but the buddhists.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi blalock!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Deja Q]

20. Ask Count Scarlioni, maybe he knows why.

:evilgrin: