It happened in just three minutes and 40 seconds, the New York Times reported.
On the night of December 7, 2002, Octave Durham and Henk Bieslijn used a ladder to scale the side of the Van Gogh Museum. Then, with a sledgehammer, they smashed one of the windows, climbed inside the building, and took two nearby paintings from the gallery they had entered.
Both were relatively early pieces, created before van Gogh had arrived at his signature style. One was a seascape from the artist’s time spent in the Hague, remarkable for its deft use of paint, as the artist had primarily devoted himself to drawing up until that time. The other work, depicting the church where the artist’s father was a pastor, was meant to be a gift for van Gogh’s mother, who had broken her leg.
Given that these paintings had never hit the open market, their value remains difficult to ascertain. One estimate, made at the time of the theft by the museum’s then-managing director, put the pair at a combined $4 million, according to the New York Times.
One of the mysteries following the original heist surrounded the decision to take these particular paintings. Some burglars [...] consider themselves connoisseurs, stealing works that strike their fancy. But in a new documentary focusing on Durham that aired on Dutch TV the same day the van Gogh paintings went on view, the thief said he simply took the two works because they were the smallest in the room.
As the pair escaped by rappelling down a rope out of a museum window, a museum guard called the police. During the descent, Durham hit the ground with such force that he damaged a corner of View of the Sea at Scheveningen. [...]
Durham monitored the responding officers on a police scanner, and was able to get away by taking off his ski mask before he drove by them. Continue reading from Artsy
As Stolen Van Goghs Return to View, a Thief Tells All (The New York Times)
What Do You Do With a Stolen Van Gogh? This Thief Knows (The New York Times)
Great Art Heists of History: Van Gogh and the Camorra (Mutual Art)
They're Home Again! (Van Gogh Museum)
Van Gogh Paintings Stolen in 2002 Found in Italian Farmhouse (Associated Press)
Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Returned After 14 Years (Smithsonian)
