The contemporary art scene seems to have critics confused about what can and can’t be considered art.

Often, it appears it’s more about the name of the artist than the actual work produced, which is how we end up with a banana duct-taped to a wall, which then sells for an unreasonably high price. 

Then there are the great masters, like Vincent Van Gogh, who died penniless without knowing how revered he’d be in the future.

It really puts that banana into perspective (pun intended, and I’m not sorry about it).

Nowadays, an original Van Gogh will set you back a good few million, which is probably why someone took advantage of the coronavirus lockdown in Amsterdam to steal one.

Here’s The Evening Standard:

A Dutch crime show aired the security footage which shows how a thief smashed his way through reinforced glass doors at The Singer Laren Museum in Amsterdam with a sledgehammer.

In the early hours of Monday, March 30, the thief was seen on tape racing into the building and running out with The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 tucked under his right arm.

You can follow the footage from when he arrives on his scooter to when he exits the museum with the painting:

The painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

Museum general director Evert van Os said the institution that houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer is “angry, shocked, sad” at the theft of the painting.

An investigation is underway to track down the thief, but to date, the painting is still missing.

While we wait for it to be found, take a stroll through some of Van Gogh’s most iconic paintings.

[source:eveningstandard]