Vincent Van Gogh's Important Painting In The Netherlands Stolen In The Middle Of A Lockdown

Singer Laren Museum visitors (Source: Singerlaren.nl)

JAKARTA - The number of victims of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand. Businessmen began to lose money, the economy was shabby, social conditions began to be affected. In the Netherlands, the government implemented a lockdown policy which resulted in the loss of large works of art.

Currently the Dutch government is carrying out a lockdown. The closure of public places, including museums, is a form of execution of this policy. Reported by Reuters, a painting by Vincent Van Gogh disappeared from the Singer Laren Museum.

The missing work is Van Gogh's 1884 painting Lentetuin or Spring Garden. Director of the Singer Laren Museum Jan Rudolph de Lorm, in a police report, revealed that the thieves entered by breaking the glass doors of the museum at around 3:15 am, local time.

The action caused the alarm to ring and officers rushed over it. However, when he arrived, the painting was gone. Until this news was made, it was not known whether any paintings or other works of art were stolen.

What is clear is that the loss of Van Gogh's work brought sadness to many Dutch citizens. Van Gogh is known as an artist who struggled with mental illness throughout his life. "I was feeling really angry and now I'm starting to feel even sadder too," said de Lorm.

De Lorm describes Van Gogh's painting of a woman among red-flowered bushes against a church backdrop as "an image of silence, reflection and serenity, which can undoubtedly provide comfort and inspiration."

To that end, the museum has added the missing painting to Interpol's list of stolen artworks. The museum, located in the city of Laren to the east of Amsterdam, has also asked its thieves to return the painting quickly. In the realm of the police, investigators are looking for security recordings, witnesses, and are examining forensic evidence.