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.