In February 1994, ‘O Grito’ was stolen and thieves left a note written “thank you very much for your bad security”; Check out how the recovery went!
Certainly one of the most famous works of art of all time, ‘The Scream’ basically became the “face” of expressionism. With the use of strong and contrasting colors, deformed figures and contours and striking brushstrokes, the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch marked his name forever in the History of Art.
Of course, being an artistic treasure, even if exhibited in a museum — today ‘The Scream’ can be seen in the Norwegian National Gallery, in Oslo —, the work is extremely protected from any attack or theft. However, 30 years ago, Norwegians focused so much attention on another event that this emblematic painting ended up being taken by museum thieves.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for competent authorities to discover the location of the work and recover it, so that this famous painting of munch returned to the National Gallery on May 7, 1994, exactly 30 years ago, just a few months after being taken. Check out more about this story!
+ Inspiration, mummy and robberies: 5 interesting facts about ‘The Scream’, by Edvard Munch
The robbery
It was February 12, 1994, the same day that the Winter Olympic gamesin the city of Lillehammer (less than 200 kilometers from Oslo), when a pair of thieves took advantage of all the focus at the start of the competition, and broke into the National Gallery.
According to Opera Mundi, they forced entry into the place by breaking the glass of one of the side windows and, inside, they cut the only wire that tied ‘O Scream’ to the wall. In addition to taking the painting, they also left a mocking note instead: “Thank you very much for your poor security.”
The thieves certainly knew exactly what they were stealing and its value, and carried out the action quickly. In total, the operation took just 50 seconds; and his recovery, in turn, proved to be much more complicated.
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Searches
Shortly after the robbery, the Norwegian police began a police operation in partnership with the British police (SO10) and the Getty Museum, in the United States. Furthermore, other groups tried to mobilize, even though, in practice, they could not do much.
For example, an anti-abortion group said it could return the painting if the country’s television showed an anti-abortion film; which was soon shown to be a fallacy. The Norwegian government also received a ransom demand in March of that year, in the amount of one million dollars, but refused to pay due to the absence of evidence that it was a genuine demand.
However, one figure was extremely crucial to the recovery of the work, even if it took a long time: Charles Hill.
Charles Hill
Born in 1947 in Cambridge, England, Charles Hill He had a multi-layered life. He fought in the Vietnam War on the side of the United States, serving as a paratrooper, graduated in history and theology, passing through institutions such as George Washington University, Trinity College, Dublin, and King’s College, London, and later joined the London Metropolitan Police.
It was in the police that he became involved and collaborated with the recovery of ‘The Scream’, not to mention other iconic works by important artists, including Titian, Paul Cézanne, JMW Turner It is Goyabecoming a great investigator who solved art thefts.
Art detective (what a cool job!) Charles Hill talked to the BBC about how he helped recover The Scream: https://t.co/RkSakcRqIp . Listen to this week’s episode: https://t.co/N0cIRRNHbJ callyourpeople crimecrazypod pic.twitter.com/xJjREvd7Mm
— Crime Crazy (@CrimeCrazyPod) https://twitter.com/CrimeCrazyPod/status/1041471814927634432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Investigation
While Hill worked for Scotland Yard’s elite Art Squad, he disguised himself as a representative of the Norwegian National Gallery, and arranged a meeting with someone who, as he himself classified in an interview with Vice in 2018, was “an art dealer dishonest known to thieves.”
It was at this meeting that he was able to see the painting in person, and quickly returned to his hotel in Oslo. He then called the Norwegian police, who found the painting in Nittedal, a suburb north of Oslo, and arrested the dealer. The painting was definitively recovered on May 7, 1994 — well after even the end of the Olympics.
As determined by the Aventuras na História team, in January 1996, four men were convicted for being connected to the robbery. Among them was Pål Engerwho had already been indicted previously, in 1988, for stealing the painting ‘Love and pain‘ (also called ‘The Rogue’ in Norway), also known as munch.
End of stories
After being detained, Paal Enger was sentenced to serve a sentence of six and a half years in prison, however, managed to escape during a trip through the countryside. Authorities managed to recapture him 12 days later, while he was trying to buy a train ticket to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark — disguising oneself with a blonde wig and sunglasses.
Already Charles Hill continued his ordinary life, and retired from Scotland Yard in 1996; although he continued working until his death, for an insurance company and then as a private detective. Until, on February 20, 2021, he passed away in a hospital in London, at the age of 73, victim of a heart attack.
