two works by Andy Warhol stolen from a gallery

Friday 01st November 2024 12:30 PM

Pieces from the “Reigning Queens” series were being stored in the gallery in preparation for being sold at the PAN Amsterdam Art fair at the end of November.

France Télévisions – Culture Editorial

Published on 01/11/2024 15:56

Reading time: 2min

In 1985, Andy Warhol created a series of screen prints depicting the world's queens of the time, including Queen Beatrix. The latter poses in front of those representing her during the inauguration of the exhibition “Queens by Andy Warhol” at Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn.in the Netherlands. (ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN / ANP MAG)

Two works by artist Andy Warhol were stolen on the night of October 31 to November 1 from an art gallery in the south of the Netherlands, while two other screen prints were found abandoned in the street.

The burglars used heavy explosives to enter the MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk (Brabant), and seized two screen prints representing Queens Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margrethe of Denmark, reports the Dutch media NOS.

“The front door to the gallery has been blown out and there is glass all around the building. The windows on the rest of the street are also broken,” describes NOS. If we still have too little information on this theft, “it is strange that explosives were used”Arthur Brand, famous art detective in the Netherlands, told AFP. “This is not common for art thefts”added the one who found works by Picasso or Van Gogh in the past.

Those of Andy Warhol, belonging to the series Reigning Queens by the Pop Art pioneer, were stored in the gallery for sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair between November 24 and December 1. Two other works from the same series, representing Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned in the street, the four works not fitting into the criminals' car, according to NOS. “The paintings are worth a considerable amount of money”said local media Omroep Brabant, citing MPV Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser.

Arthur Brand, for his part, declared to AFP that the stolen works were not “not unique” and that Andy Warhol had probably made dozens of them. “So it’s easier to sell them than unique works, but not that much”he added.

The MPV Gallery could not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. Made in 1985, two years before Andy Warhol's death, the series Reigning Queens represents the four queens who were in power at that time.

France