Stolen Van Gogh Painting Will Be Displayed in Groninger Museum’s 150-Year Celebration
Stolen Van Gogh Painting Will Be Displayed in Groninger Museum’s 150-Year Celebration
On March 29th, "The Parsonage Garden at Nuen in Spring" painting will be displayed for the first time since it was stolen in 2020.
Groningen is lucky to be the home for some of Van Goch’s famous paintings, but back in March 2020 one of his first paintings, “The Parsonage Garden at Nuen in Spring,” was on loan to the Singer Museum in Laren when it disappeared.
The midnight heist took place during a Covid-19 lockdown, and video footage showed a man smashing through glass doors with a sledgehammer and running out of the building with the painting tucked under his arm.
Dutch police later arrested a man named Nils from Baarn, whose DNA was found at the crime scene. However, it was discovered that his DNA had also been found at the scene of another art theft from the Museum Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden. Nils has been convicted and sentenced to the maximum of 8 years in jail for these thefts.
Valued between 3 and 6 million euros, this painting’s sudden disappearance led to a wide-spread search for the culprits. Eventually, Dutch art crime investigator Arthur Brand was contacted by someone claiming to have access to the painting. He negotiated its return, and it was anonymously left outside his house in Amsterdam wrapped in bubble wrap, a pillow case and wrapped in a plastic Ikea bag back in September 2023. Although the Van Goch painting was returned, Frans Hals’ “Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer” is still missing.
Director of the Groninger Museum Andreas Blühm, verified its authenticity and sent it to to the art Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, where it was found to be damaged. During restoration, conservator Marjan de Visser discovered that it was originally a winter scene which was later changed to spring, in addition to being painted on linen instead of paper on a panel.
On the 29th of March, the Groninger Museum is celebrating 150 years by pulling back the curtain on previously unseen aspects of the museum, incorporating interactive features into the display with adjustable frames and lighting for some of the art. “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” will be re-unveiled at this 150-year celebration at the Groninger Museum.
