Greek police say thieves have broken into the country’s biggest art museum in Athens and stolen two paintings and a sketch.
A police spokeswoman stated that the theft at the state National Art Gallery took place before dawn on Monday. The missing works are Picasso’s 1939 painting, “Woman’s Head,” donated by the artist in 1949, Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s 1905 painting, “Mill,” and a sketch by Italian painter Guglielmo Caccia, donated to the gallery in 1907. There is no information on their value yet. The operation lasted seven minutes from 4.30 until 4.37 a.m.
The thieves accomplished the brazen theft by triggering the alarm system several times prior to actually breaking in, leading the guard on duty to believe that the system was malfunctioning. The guard turned off the alarm, allowing the thieves to sneak in undetected at 4:30 A.M. Security later spotted one of the thieves with the aid of the museum’s motion detector. Luckily the bandits dropped another 1905 Mondrian painting, “Landscape,” before escaping.
The gallery contains mostly 19th and 20th century Greek paintings, but had just finished an exhibit of its western European collections that include prints and etchings by German master Albrecht Duerer and Rembrandt van Rijn. The art gallery was supposed to close on Monday for a long period of construction, including building extensions and refurbishment.
(with information from AP, Reuters)
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