The Thief Collector goes beyond the 1985 theft of Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” to explore the speculative history of the presumed thieves who held onto it for over 30 years.
Art Theft
$100M Stolen de Kooning Painting Returns to Museum After 37 Years
Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” was sliced out of its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in a notoriously brazen theft.
A New VR Experience Takes You Into a Museum of Stolen Masterpieces
The “Stolen Art Gallery” features five works by Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Manet, Cézanne, and van Gogh, long lost to public view but fully visible in the metaverse.
$2M Gold Tabernacle Stolen From Brooklyn Church
Also, an angel statue was decapitated and the eucharist thrown over the altar.
Man Breaks Into Dallas Museum and Smashes Over $1M Worth of Ancient Greek Art
21-year-old Brian Hernandez is accused of breaking into the museum by smashing a door with a steel chair.
“Brazen” Couple Tries to Walk Out of Manhattan Gallery With a Basquiat
The suspects attempted to take a Basquiat artwork valued at $45,000 from Taglialatella Galleries but instead made off with a half-empty bottle of whiskey.
You Can Now Report Stolen Art Using Interpol’s New App
Users can browse more than 50,000 objects reported stolen or upload their own images to check whether a work has shady provenance.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist Gets the Netflix Treatment
The miniseries This Is a Robbery is at its best when working through the stranger details of the infamous, still-unsolved crime.
A Modern Update to the “Gentleman Thief” Genre
Starring Omar Sy, the French Netflix series Lupin is a delightful crime thriller.
An Unlikely Friendship Between a Painter and the Man Who Stole Her Artwork
The new documentary The Painter and the Thief finds the complexities in what could have been a basic feel-good tale.
The Most Valuable Stolen Artworks Across Time
On the anniversary of the Gardner Museum heist, learn more about the 10 most expensive missing artworks.
Artworks by Famed Street Artist “Phase 2” Stolen From Lower East Side Studio
The late Phase 2, née Michael Lawrence Marrow, is credited as the originator of the popular bubble letter or “softies” style.