Stolen Poppy Flowers Painting By Van Gogh Found
UPDATE: August 22, 2010 8:45 AM – Late yesterday, Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni announced that the painting had been recovered. He later recanted his statement when pressed for answers and admitted that it was still missing.
The beautiful painting by Vincent Van Gogh “Poppy Flowers” has finally been recovered on Saturday. This work of art is worth over $50 million dollars and was stolen, actually cut out of it’s frame for the first time in 1978. This same museum, the Mahmoud Khalil Museum is in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, is quite embarrassed, as you would expect.
Fortunately, the thieves were caught red-handed attempting to leave Cairo. The Egyptian police caught up with them at the airport, thanks to some very acute and aware security officers. The perpetrators were apprehended, the painting recovered from two Italian men.
The painting earlier in the day had been taken from Cairo’s Mahmoud Khalil Museum on the banks of the River Nile. Security had caught a young Italian man with the painting by the Dutch post-Impressionist master at the airport and also had detained an Italian woman with him.
The collection includes works assembled by Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil, a politician who died in 1953.
The painting, known both as ‘Poppy Flowers’ and Vase with Flowers’ had been stolen before from the same museum over 30 years ago in 1978. The work, measuring 1ft by 1ft, and depicting yellow and red flowers, is believed to have been painted by the Dutch Impressionist in 1887, three years before his death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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Most of the canvasses for which van Gogh is remembered were painted in 29 months of frenzied activity before his suicide in 1890 at age 37.
The theft of the work for the second time is embarrassing for the museum authorities, who are understood to be facing an inquiry into claims that security at the museum was lax. The museum is home to one of the Middle East’s finest collections of 19th- and 20th-century art and includes works by Gauguin, Monet, Manet and Renoir.
Nine paintings of 19th Century Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ibrahim Pasha were stolen from the museum last year, but were found dumped outside 10 days later.
Stolen $50 million Vincent van Gogh painting recovered in Cairo … Aug 21, 2010 … Stolen $50 million Vincent van Gogh painting recovered in Cairo airport … The painting, which goes by two titles “Poppy Flowers” and “Vase ..
Egyptian authorities recover stolen Van Gogh painting – CNN.com Egyptian authorities recover stolen Van Gogh painting. By the CNN Wire Staff. ” Poppy Flower,” painted by Vincent Van Gogh, has an estimated …
Vincent Van Gogh Painting Reportedly Stolen From Cairo Museum … Vincent van Gogh’s “Vase and Flowers,” or “Poppy Flowers,” a painting valued at $50 million, has reportedly been stolen from a Cairo museum …
Van Gogh painting stolen from Egypt museum | Reuters Van Gogh painting stolen from Egypt museum … master Vincent Van Gogh was stolen from a museum in Egypt’s capital on Saturday, the Culture Ministry said. The poppy flower painting was taken from Cairo’s Mr & Mrs Mahmoud …
Egyptian police recover stolen Van Gogh painting – Yahoo! News Police recovered a painting by Vincent van Gogh at Cairo airport … both “Poppy Flowers” and “Vase with Flowers,” has been stolen from the …
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