Charlotte Guillain - Great Art Thefts

Have you ever visited a museum or gallery to see a famous work of art? Or maybe youhave heard of paintings such as the Mona Lisa , which are known around the world?What makes these paintings so special?

Many famous artists did not make much money when they were alive. But sometimes certainpainters or sculptors work can become very well known and valuable. Museums andcollectors will pay millions of dollars for a single work of art.

Most museums and galleries hire security guards to protect the works of art.

How can galleries protect pictures hanging on the wall?

• Guards often stand near valuable art.
• Security cameras and alarms alert museums if a robbery is taking place.
• The frames around paintings can be bolted to the wall so they are hard to remove.

But even with these security measures, a painting can be easy to steal! It is rightin front of the thief. Paintings dont weigh much once they have been cut out ofa frame, so they are easy to transport and hide.

Large, heavy works of art, such as sculptures, can be stolen, too. In 2011, a bronzesculpture by Barbara Hepworth worth $800,000 was stolen from a park in London, England.Police think the thieves wanted to melt it down and sell the metal.

In 1991, armed thieves stole 20 paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam,in the Netherlands. Nobody knew who the robbers were or why they stole the paintings.But the biggest mystery was why they left all of the stolen artwork behind in anabandoned car!

Obviously, many thieves steal art because it can be worth so much money. But in someunusual cases, thieves take art for other reasons. Some robberies take place justto show how bad a gallerys security system is!

In 2003, thieves stole paintings worth over $6 million from a gallery in Manchester,England. But the art was left in a cardboard tube in a public restroom for the policeto find. A note from the thieves said, The intention was not to steal, only to highlightthe woeful security!

This painting by Paul Gauguin was one of three stolen in the 2003 robbery.

It might be easy for a professional thief to steal valuable art, but it is not soeasy to sell it. Databases on the Internet alert galleries and law-abiding collectorsaround the world so they know if art has been stolen. Some art thieves make moneyout of the stolen works by holding them for ransom. They demand money from the galleryor owner in order for the art to be returned safely. Sometimes stolen art is usedby criminal gangs to make deals and loans with other criminals.