Art theft is a global problem,...the recovery rate of stolen art remains sadly underwhelming.
Despite this gloomy picture (no pun intended), more effort is being made to retrieve works of art and there have been some spectacular successes, such as the recovery of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream which was stolen from Oslo's National Gallery in 1994 on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and recaptured three months later by Scotland Yard's art and antiques unit, who posed as art dealers.
In 2016, two stolen van Gogh paintings were recovered after 14 years, Mr. Axel Rueger, the then Director of Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, said, "The paintings have been found! That I would be able to ever pronounce these words is something I had no longer dared to hope for."
Mr. Rueger had pretty good reason to be joyful:according to the FBI, fewer than 10 per cent of stolen works are ever recovered. Unlike The Thomas Crown Affair, art thefts are generally not commissioned by wealthy art patrons who look like Pierce Brosnan with a penchant for the finer things in life. Rather, art is stolen by people involved in organized or petty crime. The two van Gogh's turned up when Italian police raided a farmhouse near Naples investigating Italian mobsters for cocaine trafficking. Continue reading from NCJV
The Art Loss Register (The Art Loss Register)
Stolen Works of Art Database (Interpol)
National Stolen Art File (The Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Anyone Can Identify and Report Stolen Art Instantly with New Interpol App (Forbes)
The FBIs New Mobile App Helps Identify and Locate Stolen Art (Artnet News)
In Art Recovery, Cash May Be the Deciding Factor (Observer)
Art Recovery International (Art Recovery International)
Is 2023 the Year Looted Art Returns Home? (Town&Country)
