Van Gogh paintings recovered from Italian mafia

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said the paintings had been removed from their frames but appear to have suffered only slight damage. It was not immediately clear when they would be returned to the museum, which is the largest repository of Van Gogh’s work. The paintings, ‘Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen’ (1884/5) and View of the Sea at Scheveningen’ (1882), are both from relatively early in Van Gogh’s short, tempestuous career. 

“Italian financial police seized assets worth tens of millions of euros from a Camorra group involved in international cocaine trafficking”, according to a statement. They said the assets included the paintings, which were ‘priceless’. “They’re safe,” said Van Gogh Museum director Axel Rueger. “I no longer dared to hope that I could ever say that, after so many years.” In the 2002 heist, thieves used a ladder to climb onto the museum’s roof and break into the building, escaping by sliding down a rope. Two men were later caught and convicted of the theft thanks in part to DNA evidence linking them to the scene. They were sentenced to 4 years and 4 years six months, respectively, but the paintings were not recovered.