LEFT: Image of the Madonna before it was stolen, AP Photo
and RIGHT: image of the Munch Museum's Scream. Now both paintings are in safe hands. From The Hindu: International:
- At a news conference in Oslo the head of the city's organised crime unit, Iver Stensrud, said: "We are 100 per cent certain they are the originals. The damage was much less than feared."
Experts from the Munch museum have authenticated the paintings, and it is believed the damage consists of a small tear in The Scream and two holes in Madonna.
UPDATED TOO: From the front page of the New York Times:
Thursday (August 31) saw the recovery of Edvard Munch's missing masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna." They were stolen on August 22 of 2004. Erling Lae, Oslo's city commissioner is quoted as saying, "We know both pictures have been handled roughly and that 'Madonna' has received a scratch or gouge, but I have been informed that the damages are not irreparable."
Earlier this year 3 men were convicted of minor roles in the heist. One for driving the getaway car, another for trying to arrange a sale of artworks.
The article went on to say that, "the police refused to say what led to the paintings' recovery or even where in Norway it took place." This is may be due to an apparent, but unconfirmed connection between the Munch heist and a robbery a few months prior that left a police officer dead.
In celebration, Knut Forsberg invited "anyone who wants to come" for Champagne. 300 + visitors came by Blomqvist Fine Arts, the gallery where Forsberg is chairman and which served as Munch's dealer in his lifetime.
NYT story by: Walter Gibbs
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