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December 8, 2002
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Thieves broke into the Van Gogh Museum Saturday and made off with two works by the 19th century master.
The theft was the second from the museum in 10 years. The Amsterdam collection holds the world's largest Van Gogh display, more than 200 paintings and hundreds of drawings.
Alarms went off at 8 a.m., two hours before opening. By the time police got to the scene, the thieves had vanished, said museum director John Leighton.
Police found a 15-foot ladder leaning against the rear of the building. The thieves climbed to the second floor and broke a window, police spokeswoman Elly Florax said.
Leighton said the missing paintings were from early in Vincent Van Gogh's career. They "have no market value since they were not for sale, but comparable paintings sold for several million dollars," he said.
View of the Sea at Scheveningen, a small picture of a boat setting off into a stormy sea, was painted in two days in 1882. It is one of Van Gogh's first major pieces.
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, painted in 1884-85, shows the village church where Van Gogh's father served as pastor.
"The Reform Church was emotionally important. He probably meant it as a souvenir for his mother," Leighton said.
Van Gogh died in 1890 at age 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police turned away the public Saturday while investigators combed the building and curators rearranged the paintings to cover the blank spaces.
On Monday, thieves raided a diamond exhibition at the Museon in The Hague. Museum officials said millions of dollars worth of gems were taken.