Two works by the American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) were stolen from the MPV gallery in Oisterwijk (Netherlands). This was reported by the NL Times portal.
At approximately 3:35 in the morning there was a strong explosion at the place, after which the thieves tried to steal the four paintings from the series “Reigning Queens” (1985) – portraits Elizabeth IIDutch BeatrizDanish Margaret II and the Queen of Swaziland (Eswatini) Ntombi Thwala.
According to a museum representative, the thieves broke glass frames and tore out paintings. In his opinion, this could not be done without damaging the work. Only two paintings were stolen, and images of Beatrix and Ntombi Twala were found in their frames.
“The whole series as a whole is very valuable. It’s a mortal shame that the series is now broken.” – the museum emphasized.
The gallery also believes that due to the popularity of printing, resale of paintings will be difficult, as they can only be sold on the black market;
The explosion caused significant damage to the gallery building and two neighboring buildings were also damaged.
According to the police, the robbers fled the scene of the crime in a car. Police are urging anyone with CCTV footage of the incident or information about the perpetrators to report it immediately.
