A Thief Was Able To Steal A Priceless Vincent Van Gogh Painting With A Few Swings Of A Sledgehammer

A thief was able to walk out of a Netherlands museum with a priceless Vincent Van Gogh painting using a few swings of a sledgehammer, NBC News reports. Museum officials believe that the thief had targeted the specific painting for the theft.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, on March 30 the Sanger Museum in Laren, near Amsterdam, was robbed of The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, a painting from Van Gogh’s early career when he lived with his minister father in the town of Nuenen. The painting depicts the ruins of a village church, which Van Gogh would have been able to see from his home.

The thief took advantage of the fact that the museum had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was in and out of the museum in minutes and, as of this writing, police have no suspect.

At the time, police didn’t reveal many details about the crime, including what was on the museum’s surveillance cameras, to avoid hindering their investigation. Authorities are still holding their cards close to their vests, but this week a Dutch TV show revealed a few more clues about the theft.

Security camera footage from an area home appears to show that the thief was able to enter the museum relatively easily with the crudest of instruments: a sledgehammer. With a few well-placed swings, he broke through the museum’s glass doors.

Moments later, he exited through the museum’s gift shop, the painting tucked under his right arm and the sledgehammer in his left hand. He is believed to have left the area on a motorcycle.

Police spokeswoman Maren Wonder said that the evidence seems to suggest that the thief broke into the museum with a view toward stealing that particular piece.

“It looks like they very deliberately targeted this one Van Gogh painting,” she said.

Wonder is asking any past visitors to the museum to come forward if they noticed any visitors behaving suspiciously, particularly around that particular Van Gogh, possibly scoping out the museum in order to rob it.

“It would be very helpful if visitors to the museum have photos or video recordings with other people in them,” she said.

According to Smithsonian, art thieves rarely profit from their crimes by selling stolen artwork on the black market. Rather, they try to use such pieces — usually without success — as collateral in underworld deals, or they try to ransom them back to the museums.