Reward offered for stolen Munch masterpieces

The city of Oslo offered a cash reward today for the return of Edvard Munch’s masterpieces The Scream and Madonna, which were stolen by gunmen in a brazen heist last August.

Authorities have arrested four people in the case, but the priceless paintings remain missing.

“The exchange of paintings for money. It’s as simple as that,” said Morten Hojem Ervik, of the Oslo Police. The decision by police and the city to offer the reward for information leading to the paintings’ recovery was in no way linked to any demand for ransom, he said.

The paintings were stolen on August 22 from the city-owned Munch Museum, and are among the Norwegian painter’s best known works.

The Scream, which shows a figure apparently screaming, has become a 20th century icon of human anxiety. There are three other versions of the painting.

Last month, police rejected reports that the paintings had been destroyed because the thieves feared police were closing in and did not want to be caught with the evidence. Experts have said both paintings are too well known for the thieves to be able to sell them.

Hojem Ervik declined to say whether police were closer to recovering the paintings, saying only that they had a good overview of the criminal circles suspected in the heist.

“We have made four arrests,” he said. “And I would not exclude the possibility of more arrests.”

Munch developed an emotionally charged painting style that was of great importance in the birth of the 20th century Expressionist movement. The Scream and Madonna were part of his “Frieze of Life” series, in which sickness, death, anxiety and love are central themes. He died in 1944 at the age of 80.