HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
The screen print “Reigning Queens (Royal Edition) Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom” by American artist Andy Warhol at the “A Century of Photography” preview before the exhibition, at Buckingham Palace, London, on May 16, 2024.
ART – The burglars left with portraits of queens, nothing more, nothing less. Two works by the central figure of pop art Andy Warhol were stolen on the night of October 31 to November 1, from an art gallery in the south of the The NetherlandsTwo other screen prints were found abandoned in the street.
The burglars used heavy explosives to enter the MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, and stole two screen prints representing Queens Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margrethe of Denmark, reports the Dutch media NOS.
Two other works from the same series, representing Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, were abandoned in the street, the four works not fitting into the criminals’ car, according to NOS. “The front door to the gallery was blown out and there is glass all around the building. The windows on the rest of the street are also broken,” describes the media.
Explosives used
The works of Andy Warhol, belonging to the series “Reigning Queens” by the Pop Art pioneer, were stored in the gallery for sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair between November 24 and December 1.
If we still have too little information on this theft, “it is strange that explosives were used”Arthur Brand, famous art detective in the Netherlands, told AFP. “It’s not common for art thefts,” added Mr. Brand, known for having found works by Picasso or Van Gogh in the past.
Arthur Brand told AFP that the stolen works were not “not unique” and that Andy Warhol had probably made dozens of them. “It is therefore easier to sell them than unique works, but not that much”he added.
Made in 1985, two years before Andy Warhol’s death, the series “Reigning Queens” represents the four queens who were in power at that time. “The paintings are worth a considerable amount of money”said local media Omroep Brabant, citing MPV Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser.
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