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    Picasso, Mondrian paintings stolen in Greece

    Associated Press – Mon, Jan 9, 2012

    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thieves carried out a well-organized, pre-dawn heist at Greece's biggest state art museum on Monday, taking two oil paintings by 20th century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, police said.

    A police statement said the burglars who entered through a balcony door also took a pen and ink drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th century painter Guglielmo Caccia. It said a fourth work by Mondrian also was removed from the National Art Gallery in one of the best-guarded areas of central Athens, but the thieves abandoned it as they fled.

    Museum officials were unable to immediately estimate how much the stolen works were worth.

    Police said the heist took about seven minutes. The thieves had intentionally set off alarms on several occasions since Sunday evening without actually entering the building, prompting guards to disable at least one.

    The burglars still triggered a sensor in the exhibition area, but a guard only got there in time to see a man running off.

    Among the stolen works was a cubist female bust by Pablo Picasso, which the Spanish painter had donated to Greece in 1949 with a dedication "in homage to the Greek people" for their resistance to Nazi occupiers during World War II.

    The thieves also took a 1905 representational oil painting of a riverside windmill by Mondrian, famous for his later abstract linear works, and a drawing of St. Diego de Alcala by Caccia. All three works were stripped from their frames.

    The art gallery contains mostly 19th and 20th century Greek painting, but had just wound up a display of its western European collections that include prints and etchings by German master Albrecht Duerer and Rembrandt van Rijn. It had been due to close Monday for a long period of extension and refurbishment.

     

    80 comments

    • SanJuanKid
      SanJuanKid  •  4 mths ago
      "The thieves had intentionally set off alarms on several occasions without actually entering the building, prompting guards to disable at least one." Come on! That's an OLD trick! Whom do they hire as guards? Turkish belly dancers?
      • JohnQ
        JohnQ 4 mths ago
        Please don't insult Turkish belly dancers. I love 'em.
      • SanJuanKid
        SanJuanKid 4 mths ago
        John, you'd like anything that wiggles its butt.
    • Maureen
      Maureen  •  4 mths ago
      You would have to be trained in art to appreciate these pieces to their fullest.
      • steve
        steve 4 mths ago
        or a dos of acid
      • Catherine
        Catherine 4 mths ago
        picasso is sooooooo overated!
    • Clive Sandringham
      Clive Sandringham  •  Portland, Maine  •  4 mths ago
      Next appearing in some Chinese or Russian's private collection.
    • Molly
      Molly  •  4 mths ago
      The Picasso looks like Phineas and Ferb.
    • slappy
      slappy  •  4 mths ago
      I wonder disability rate you get for grand larceny?
    • nematoad
      nematoad  •  Saginaw, Michigan  •  4 mths ago
      In my neighborhood, sometimes you find these kind of paintings stuffed into the trash bins. the bag lady, and shopping cart hobos always leave these behind, they'd rather have cans and bottles.
    • nematoad
      nematoad  •  Saginaw, Michigan  •  4 mths ago
      When your alarm system starts showing false alarms, the best thing to do is to disable the offending sensors, when your dogs start barking at nothing at all, you tell them to shut up. Art thieves have figured out how to hack alarm systems using human pshcholocy.
    • virtual persona manager
      virtual persona manager  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  4 mths ago
      Ah the old "set the alarms off until they turn off the alarms" trick.
      Why didn't security, or "security" see them setting off the alarms and nail them then?
      Where is the videos of the perps entering and stealing the artwork?
    • JBR
      JBR  •  4 mths ago
      They were trying out that time-cloak device we read about last week...
    • TT
      TT  •  Athens, Greece  •  4 mths ago
      Maybe the associated Press should review its article regarding its claim related to the security of the Greek art museum. At the time of the heist there was one (1) security guard available inside the museum and its not as stated "one of the best-guarded areas of central Athens". Greece has become home to criminals and crime syndicates from neighboring countries using Greece as a base to exploit their activities. Lack of funding is the main cause of increased crime rates all over Greece.
      • Amon-Ra
        Amon-Ra 4 mths ago
        TT you tell them, we no the press always add bits to make it sound better but not everyone can see it.
    • Poleaxed
      Poleaxed  •  4 mths ago
      Bain Capital stole them and is stripping the paint off of them and reselling the canvasses on the open market.
    • Ted S
      Ted S  •  4 mths ago
      Both of them look like something my 5 year old granddaughter did for a school project.
    • divad41
      divad41  •  4 mths ago
      they needed the euros to buy supper for the kids
    • C.
      C.  •  4 mths ago
      Greece uses public money to pay pedophiles and Greeks are stealing art from other countries. Any connection?
    • Marcus
      Marcus  •  Manila, Philippines  •  4 mths ago
      Ultimately, it's only colored ink on a piece of cloth (like jewelry is ultimately is just rocks and stones)...
      • Poleaxed
        Poleaxed 4 mths ago
        Where did you get all of your intelligence and class? Ultimately, your head is just full of rocks.
      • Trotsky
        Trotsky 4 mths ago
        He is living in the Philipines mate, and probably up to no-good with minors.
      • adrian holdstock
        adrian holdstock 4 mths ago
        Aha, Philippines, philistines, they're pretty close.
    • Harold King Linaza
      Harold King Linaza  •  Manila, Philippines  •  4 mths ago
      Awtzz.. I hope that all of the famous painting that stolen have a tracking device so that the thieves will track down easily.. :)
    • ray
      ray  •  4 mths ago
      Security staff immediately sealed off all the exits but the thieves left through the entrances.
    • RALPH
      RALPH  •  4 mths ago
      looks like pepper pig
    • tivvy
      tivvy  •  London, United Kingdom  •  4 mths ago
      wish someone would nick my piccaso,its failed its mot and the tax is due.
    • Laurence Henrikssen
      Laurence Henrikssen  •  Hounslow, United Kingdom  •  4 mths ago
      Apparently Anthony Worrall Thompson was spotted nearby shortly afterwards, snacking on some cheese and wine.
     Post a comment
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