For what purpose?

[Gonz]

Stealing some of the most famous art in the day of instant media is ridiculous. Who'd buy them? Ransom? Celebrity?

OSLO, Norway — Armed men stormed into an art museum Sunday, threatened staff at gunpoint and stole Edvard Munch's (search) famous paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" before the eyes of stunned museum-goers.

The thieves yanked the paintings off the walls of Oslo's Munch Museum (search) and loaded them into a waiting car outside, said a witness, French radio producer Francois Castang.

Police spokeswoman Hilde Walsoe said the two or three armed men threatened a museum employee with a handgun to give them the two paintings, including one of four versions of "The Scream" — Munch's famed depiction of an anguished figure with its head in its hands.

 

[Oz]

The Scream is still one of my fave piccy's ever

as to why steal them? ....... gods know, it will of course put the value of the pics up (not all art crime is as innocent as it looks, well, according to a telly documentary I saw a while back)........... if The Scream and Madonna do suddenly disapear off the face of the planet then other Munch works suddenly skyrocket in price (so if yer've got one hidden in yer basement, now will be the time to sell ).

Ransom? Yup, this has been tried in the past.....I think it still has a zero success rate tho'.

Private collector? Possible I suppose......I always think of the kinda "James Bond" badguy in a hidden underground base staring at his "priceless" collection of stolen art in that scenario tho'

 

[HomeLAN]

May well be a "commissioned" theft. The ultimate recipient has no intention of selling it, just wants to possess it, and hired it done.

 

[MrBishop]

Being the only person to be able to view such a piece, would have a great ego-stroking effect on an art lover.