Art Lovers discussion

The three men waited outside the iron gates under an almost full moon feeling the cool breeze of spring blowing through their hair. They watched the red, white, and blue flag blow gently along with it.

They broke the padlock easily without a sound. Creeping into the courtyard behind one of the only three guards on duty that night, they made their way to the back of the building. They knew the alarm system had been awaiting repairs for weeks now so that wouldn’t be an issue.

Now to take out the one and only security camera. Luckily, the camera was only recording and not watched live 24 hours continually so none of the guards knew that it was recording a white light then a screen gone black.

That was easy, as their number two jumped down. They went around to the window above a small embankment. There was more shrubbery in this area and few people knew that these windows are usually cracked just a bit for air. (I made up that whole paragraph, that isn’t part of the news)

The acrobatic thief who had climbed the wall before, sometimes called a “cat-burglar” had a reputation for being extremely agile and adept at being able to perform stunts and tricks. Again this time he climbed to the window and opened it just enough to let himself in.

Incredible! What a beautiful scene! The other two waited outside for him to deliver the goods.

Once he had what he came for and more, they ran away undetected. They did well! Better than they had planned on. In the news some say it was worth $100M others say double that! Still others say there isn’t a price you can put on this.

What did they do?

So we don’t necessarily solve the crime. It is actually a real heist. I got most of the details from news online. Where the story doesn’t quite make sense is where I don’t have the details and I don’t want to make up something that would interfere. So what you have read are all clues. Use what you read to determine whatever you can figure out to discover which heist this is. You can throw in whatever information you have, no matter how specific. You can say “they stole a painting” or you can say “they stole Picasso’s Guernica” just whatever information you have or guesses you have. I’ll ask some questions, and you can ask me questions, too.

What did they steal?
What city/country are they in?
When did this take place?
In what facility do they find themselves?
Was this crime ever solved?
Were the goods ever recovered?

First hint: Five paintings were stolen

Heather wrote: "First hint: Five paintings were stolen"

Along with The Scream, from Museum in Oslo?

Ruth wrote: "Heather wrote: "First hint: Five paintings were stolen"

Along with The Scream, from Museum in Oslo?"

The Scream wasn't one of the paintings that was stolen, if that's what you are saying...I'm not sure what your question is...

The Five paintings were by


Picasso
Matisse
Leger
Modigliani
Braque

****ADDENDUM: One man is said to have done this alone. So though I read that there were three thieves involved, only the one man stole the paintings.

Was the museum in Paris?

Yes, it was a museum and yes it was in Paris. You got two answers, Connie! ;)

2010 art heist in the Paris Museum of Modern Art

2010...?
Wow!

You got it, Connie! Good job! Can you believe they had the alarm system broken for weeks? And only three guards on duty, and one camera? I mean, talk about POOR museum security!

And I later read that I wasn’t so far off in making up part of the story, he did break a window and climbed in that way and they didn’t discover the theft until they saw the broken window just before opening the next morning.
Way to go!

Oh, and none of these paintings have been recovered. They were:


L'Olivier Près de l'Estaque (Olive tree near Estaque, 1906) by Georges Braque (left) and La Pastorale (Pastoral, 1906) by Henri Matisse


Dove with Green Peas
Pablo Picasso


Woman with a Fan
Amedeo Modigliani


Still Life with a Candlestick
Fernand Leger
(The thief actually went in with the intent to just get this one piece but when he discovered that the security system was down, he took himself on a 'tour' and picked up the others, too.)

They need to contract with a different alarm company! It's hard to believe that they would have to wait weeks with all those valuable paintings in the museum. Most corner convenience stores have more than one camera in them!

Yea..and really can one blame the thief..he came for one painting the state of museum security tempted him into stealing 4 more...

Right. I don’t blame the thief at all! I would do the same thing!

And you’re totally correct about the alarm system, how ridiculous can it be? An art museum with priceless items that are insured and not even valued because there isn’t a price for most of this stuff? And the alarm company or museum or whoever just lets the system wait to get fixed. Wow!

I 'd really love the Modigliani at my wall, don't care too much about the others ;-)
Any idea about the value Heather?

Dirk wrote: "I 'd really love the Modigliani at my wall, don't care too much about the others ;-)
Any idea about the value Heather?"

I read SO many contradictions there. It went from $10M first then $100M which seemed more probable so I think the first one was a misprint. But then it switched to 25-50 Euro each, so I have no idea and basically all the articles said they really can't put a monetary value on them. None of them are resalable because of the publicity of the crime and the art, also they are just priceless themselves. I don't have an answer for you, sorry!