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Agencies

Thieves got away with two silkscreen prints from Andy Warhol’s “Reigning Queens” series after blasting their way into an art gallery in the town of Oisterwijk in the southern Netherlands.
The thieves had left a further two portraits on the street after being unable to get them all into the getaway car, MPV Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser told broadcaster Omroep Brabant after viewing security camera footage.
They used heavy explosives to break into the gallery.
“The entrance of the gallery was blown out and there was glass all around the building,” a Dutch media report said.
And then they ran to the car with the artworks and it turns out that they won’t fit in the car. … The works are damaged beyond repair
MPV Gallery owner Mark Peet Visser on the ‘amateurish’ theft
In a telephone interview, Visser called the raid “amateurish”.
“The bomb attack was so violent that my entire building was destroyed” and nearby stores were also damaged, he said. “So they did that part of it well, too well actually.
“And then they ran to the car with the artworks and it turns out that they won’t fit in the car. … At that moment the works are ripped out of the frames and you also know that they are damaged beyond repair, because it is impossible to get them out undamaged.”
The stolen portraits are of England’s Queen Elizabeth II and Denmark’s Queen Margarethe II.
Portraits of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntfombi Twala of eSwatini were abandoned on the street outside the gallery.

Police appealed for witnesses as forensic experts examined the badly damaged gallery on November 1.
“It is strange that explosives were used,” well-known Dutch art detective Arthur Brand said. “That’s not common for art thefts.”
The portraits are part of a series created by Warhol, a leading figure in the pop art movement of the second half of the last century, in the 1980s.

Visser declined to put a value on the portraits, which were to have been offered for sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair at the end of the month, but told local media outlet Omroep Brabant they “are worth a considerable sum”.
Brand, however, said the stolen artworks were “not unique and most likely tens of them were made”.
“This makes it easier to sell than unique works, but not that much easier,” he said.
Following the first edition, Warhol made a number of copies in various colours. Four numbered and signed silkscreen prints of Beatrix were auctioned for a total of €217,000 (US$236,000) in The Hague in 2021.
dpa, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse


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A man takes an image of a screen print on show in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, depicting Queen Elizabeth II, one in a series of 16 by Andy Warhol and similar to a work stolen from a gallery in Oisterwijk, Netherlands, early on November 1, 2024. Photo: AP

Screen prints by Andy Warhol depicting Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on display at a museum in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, similar to a Warhol work stolen from a gallery in Oisterwijk, Netherlands. Photo: AP

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands poses in front of an Andy Warhol portrait of her at the opening of an exhibition in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. A similar print was stolen from an art gallery in Oisterwijk, Netherlands. Photo: AFP

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A woman looks atLandscape near Aix with Tour de Cesar by Paul Cézanne at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Photo: AFP

A man takes a photo of Andy Warhol’s artwork depicting Queen Elizabeth, at a preview of the artist’s Reigning Queens exhibition in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Photo: AP 

A woman looks at Landscape near Aix with Tour de Cesar, by Paul Cézanne, at the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on October 9, 2024. Photo: AFP

A general view of the new exhibition Vive l’impressionnisme! at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Photo: EPA-EFE

Four prints depicting Margrethe II of Denmark, part of Andy Warhol’s “Reigning Queens” series, at Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Photo: AP

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands poses in front of her portrait made by US artist Andy Warhol as she attends the preview of “Royal Edition” at the Het Loo Palace museum. Photo: AFP

Curator Hanna Klarenbeek is interviewed during a preview of an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s “Reigning Queens” series. Photo: AP

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Gang using explosives steal two Andy Warhol ‘Reigning Queens’ prints, abandon two more that won’t fit in getaway car, gallery owner says


Gang using explosives steal two Andy Warhol ‘Reigning Queens’ prints, abandon two more that won’t fit in getaway car, gallery owner says.


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The Netherlands