> Durham’s exasperation is not that of some couch potato who has seen one too many crime shows. He’s a thief who 18 years ago stole not one but two van Gogh paintings from Amsterdam’s famous Van Gogh Museum.<p>Then a few paragraphs later talks about how he also committed his crime with a sledgehammer and no forethought:<p>> “I just did it because I saw the opportunity,” Durham said. He noticed a window at the museum that he thought would be easy to smash. “I didn’t have a buyer before I did it,” he said. “I just thought I can either sell them, or if I have a problem I can negotiate with the paintings.”<p>See other comments in this thread for a single-sentence distillation of the only really useful information from the article.
Sell it to a Chinese billionaire. [1]<p>><i>Priceless Chinese works of art stolen in audacious robberies from galleries and museum in Britain and Europe are thought to be ending up in private collections belonging to Beijing billionaires.</i><p>><i>Zhao Xu, the director of Beijing Poly Auction, told China Daily: “Buying looted artwork has become high street fashion among China’s elite.”</i><p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/25/chinese-art-heists-fuels-black-market-sales-looted-treasures/" rel="nofollow">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/25/chinese-art-heis...</a>
The article reminds me of a cool vid about ex-jewelery robber breaking down heist scenes from famous movies: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CtWqv0Z3ErM" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CtWqv0Z3ErM</a>
A lot of big ticket stolen art is used as collateral for other illegal transactions. Everyone knows it's worthless because you can't unload it. But it shows you are a really good criminal.
I'm reminded of the movie American Animals, where four college students attempt to steal some of Audubon's drawings, and realize that the fencers themselves want a valuation before they're willing to buy.
You make a style transfer on a photo of 1880. Use the paint of the original van Gogh to paint the styletransfer result. Bring it to the Van Gogh museum and let them authenticate it as the real deal.
It seems a lot of art is used for signaling purposes, aka ostentatious consumption.<p>In terms of ostentatious consumption, I think the ultimate would be Kobe van Gogh steaks.<p>Those are Kobe Beef steaks grilled over a fire that was built using a van Gogh painting. I hear the old oils based paints when they burn in the fire impart a very distinctive flavor to the meat that just can't be duplicated anywhere else.
The best part? It happened again just a few months ago. Same MO: Van Gogh, Amsterdam, hammer smash :)<p><a href="https://m.gooieneemlander.nl/cnt/dmf20200422_37766724/deuren-met-hamer-ingebeukt-van-gogh-simpel-gestolen-uit-singer-laren" rel="nofollow">https://m.gooieneemlander.nl/cnt/dmf20200422_37766724/deuren...</a><p>Sorry for the Dutch article, couldn’t find an English one. But the gist of it is that a guy stole a painting by smashing a window with a sledgehammer during the corona lockdown in the Netherlands. And got away with it.<p>I’m curious to learn more about the thoughts behind the security measures of museums. Balancing accessibility with “stealability”.<p>Edit: Here’s an English resource and video:
<a href="https://nltimes.nl/2020/04/22/video-released-van-gogh-theft-singer-laren-museum" rel="nofollow">https://nltimes.nl/2020/04/22/video-released-van-gogh-theft-...</a>
When this article was first posted on Hackernews the title was different. Why are the titles getting changed?<p>It is still a clickbait title so i don't understand why the change was done in the first place.
Quick answer: They sell them at around 10% value on the black market, or use them as bargaining chips if they're arrested for other crimes.<p>Clickbait titles leading to long fluffy non-answer pieces can do one.
"What do you do with a stolen van Gogh? This thief knows"<p><a href="https://artdaily.com/news/124021/What-do-you-do-with-a-stolen-van-Gogh--This-thief-knows" rel="nofollow">https://artdaily.com/news/124021/What-do-you-do-with-a-stole...</a>
What's the point of posting a link to an article that a significant fraction of the public will not be able to read?<p>Wouldn't it be better to create a précis and post that instead?