Daring raiders snatch three Munch works

THREE works by the artist Edvard Munch were stolen from a hotel this weekend, the second theft of the renowned Norwegian’s art in less than seven months.

A 1915 watercolour called Blue Dress and two lithographs, one a self-portrait the other a portrait of the playwright, August Strindberg, were stolen from the walls of the restaurant of the stately Refnes Hotel near the city of Moss, about 30 miles south of Oslo, late on Sunday, Jan Pedersen, of the local police, said yesterday.

Pedersen said he could not estimate the value of the works by the Norwegian painter, although art experts guessed it could be worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

The watercolour, Blue Dress, was one of kind, and would account for the bulk of the value.

Pedersen said a hotel worker had gone into the restaurant around 11pm Sunday night and surprised two people who had removed the pictures from the wall.

“They dropped one, and broke the frame and glass, but took the picture,” Pedersen said.

He said police are searching for the two men, who were described as being in their 20s, of medium height and having dark hair.

It was the second such theft of Munch paintings in the Nordic country in less than seven months.

In August, the artist’s masterpieces, The Scream and Madonna, were stolen in a brazen daylight raid from an Oslo museum by three armed robbers, and have yet to be recovered.

“There are no grounds for assuming any connection between the thefts, but we will be talking to the Oslo police about it,” said Pedersen.

Munch developed an emotionally charged painting style that was of great importance in the birth of the 20th century Expressionist movement. He died in 1944 at the age of 80.

The hotel’s owner, Widar Salbuvik, said the works were part of a 400-piece collection, including another four by Munch, that are displayed in the restaurant. The hotel itself is part of an estate that was built in 1767. The hotel is located on the island of Jeloey, where Edvard Munch lived and worked from 1913 until 1916, when he moved to Oslo.

He said the works are not as famous as The Scream or Madonna, but added they were well-known to collectors and Munch aficionados.

Mr Salbuvik told state radio NRK that the pictures had been attached to the wall using museum mounts. He said the burglars ripped the frames from the walls, but it was unlikely the works were damaged.

There was an alarm system, but it wasn’t turned on since the hotel had not yet closed for the night.

“It seems to be a fashion among criminals to steal Munch,” said Mr Salbuvik. “How professional is it to steal art? Great value, big risk and hard to sell. They would have to be very slow in the head to do it.”

In 1994, another version of The Scream painting was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo and was recovered undamaged a few months later in a sting operation.