Poppy Flowers

Last updated
Poppy Flowers
Van Gogh - Vase mit Pechnelken.jpeg
Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year1887
Catalogue
Type Still life
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions65 cm× 54 cm(26 in× 21 in)

Poppy Flowers (also known as Vase And Flowers and Vase with Viscaria) is a painting by Vincent van Gogh with an estimated value of US$55 million [1] which was stolen from Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum twice; first in 1977 (and recovered after a decade), then again in August 2010 and has yet to be found. [2]

Contents

1977 theft

The painting had been stolen from Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum on June 4, 1977, and was recovered ten years later [3] in Kuwait. [4]

2010 theft

The painting was once again stolen from the same museum in August 2010. Egyptian officials erroneously believed they had recovered the painting only hours after its theft when two Italian suspects attempted to board a plane to Italy at Cairo International Airport. [5]

The painting is small, measuring 65 x 54 cm, and depicts yellow and red poppy flowers. [6] It is believed that van Gogh painted it in 1887, three years before his suicide. [3] The painting, which is of a vase of yellow and red poppies, contrasted against a dark ground is a reflection of Van Gogh's deep admiration for Adolphe Monticelli, an older painter whose work influenced him when he first saw it in Paris in 1886. [7]

Reaction to theft

In October 2010, an Egyptian court found 11 culture ministry employees, including Deputy Culture Minister Mohsen Shaalan, guilty of negligence and professional delinquency. [2] Each was sentenced to three years in jail but subsequently released on bail of about $1,750 pending appeal. [2] After the appeal, Shaalan served a one-year prison term ending in 2013. [8]

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris put up a $175,000 or 1,000,000 Egyptian pounds reward for information leading to the return of the painting. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Gogh Museum</span> National art museum in Netherlands

The Van Gogh Museum is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 2 June 1973, and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.

<i>The Scream</i> 1893 painting by Edvard Munch

The Scream is a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The Norwegian name of the piece is Skrik (Scream), and the German title under which it was first exhibited is Der Schrei der Natur. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images in art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch's work, including The Scream, had a formative influence on the Expressionist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitzwilliam Museum</span> University Museum of fine art and antiquities in Cambridge, England

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745–1816), and comprises one of the best collections of antiquities and modern art in western Europe. With over half a million objects and artworks in its collections, the displays in the museum explore world history and art from antiquity to the present. The treasures of the museum include artworks by Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Van Dyck, and Canaletto, as well as a winged bas-relief from Nimrud. Admission to the public is always free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art theft</span> Stealing of paintings or sculptures from museums

Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans. Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%. Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha</span> Prime Minister of Egypt (1928–1929, 1937–1939)

Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha, also knowns as Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Pasha, was Prime Minister of Egypt twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foundation E. G. Bührle</span> Art museum in Zürich, Switzerland

The Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection is an art museum in Zürich, Switzerland. It was established by the Bührle family to make Emil Georg Bührle's collection of European sculptures and paintings available to the public. The museum is in a villa adjoining Bührle's former home. In 2021 many works were exhibited on 20-year loan in almost a whole floor of the new extension of the Kunsthaus Zürich museum. There was controversy due to suspicions that many works were looted from Jews by Nazi Germany. The foundation was managed for decades by Bührle's son Dieter, who was sentenced to a conditional prison term of 8 months in 1970 for supplying weapons to the racist apartheid regime in South Africa.

Mohamed Nagy Museum is a photography and biographical art history museum located at 9 Mahmoud El Gendi Street, close to the Giza Plateau, in the Haram district of Giza, in the southwest of the Greater Cairo metropolis, Egypt. It was initially Mohamed Nagy's studio which he founded in 1952. Nagy was a pioneer of modern Egyptian photographic art and is considered in modern Egypt to be one the country's most renowned painters. After his death it was formally inaugurated as a museum on 13 July 1968 by Tharwat Okasha, the Egyptian Minister of Culture. In 1991 the museum was refurbished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum</span>

The Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum is a museum in Giza, Egypt. It is located in a palace built in the early 20th century.

<i>Vase with Poppies</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Vase with Poppies is an 1886 oil painting created in Paris, France by Post-Impressionist Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.

<i>The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen</i> 1884 painting by Vincent van Gogh

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, alternatively named The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring or Spring Garden, is an early oil painting by 19th-century Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, created in May 1884 while he was living with his parents in Nuenen. Van Gogh made several drawings and oil paintings of the surrounding gardens and the garden façade of the parsonage.

<i>Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather, also known as View of the Sea at Scheveningen, is an early oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, painted at Scheveningen near The Hague in August 1882. It is held in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris)</span>

Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 and 1887 after he moved to Montmartre in Paris from the Netherlands. While in Paris, Van Gogh transformed the subjects, color and techniques that he used in creating still life paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmoud Mekki</span> Egyptian judge and politician

Mahmoud Mekki is an Egyptian politician who served as the vice president of Egypt from August 2012 to December 2012. He was appointed by President Mohamed Morsi following the 2011 revolution and the 2012 presidential election on 12 August 2012. He was Egypt's first vice president from a civilian background rather than a military one. He resigned from his post on 22 December 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Mahmoud graffiti</span>

Mohamed Mahmoud Graffiti is a collection of graffiti that was painted on several walls in and surrounding Mohamed Mahmoud street near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt during and after the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

The Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace is a historical building in Cairo's Zamalek island, which is used as the Egypt's first ceramics museum, the Museum of Islamic Ceramics and as an art center.

<i>Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer</i> Painting by Frans Hals

Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer is an oil-on-canvas painting by Frans Hals, created c. 1626, showing a Kannekijker (mug-looker). It hangs in the Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden museum in Leerdam, Netherlands. It was stolen from the museum in 2020 and is still missing.

Mohsen Shaalan or Shalaan was an Egyptian artist and deputy minister of culture, serving as the head of the fine arts sector from 2006 until 2010. He was ousted from his position in the Ministry of Culture following the 2010 theft of Van Gogh's Poppy Flowers from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo. He later served one year in prison on charges stemming from the theft, which prosecutors argued was made possible by insufficient security under his watch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalmuseum robbery</span> 2000 robbery from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden

The Nationalmuseum robbery was the robbery of three paintings worth a combined total of $30–45 million USD from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden, on 22 December 2000. The stolen paintings were a self-portrait by Rembrandt and two Renoir paintings, Conversation and Young Parisian. The paintings have been recovered.

References

  1. "Egypt culture chief sleepless over Van Gogh theft". Reuters. August 24, 2010. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Egyptian ministry officials jailed over Van Gogh theft". BBC News. 12 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Van Gogh painting stolen in Cairo". BBC News. 21 August 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  4. "Egyptian minister says Van Gogh picture still missing". BBC News. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  5. "Faulty alarms blamed for Van Gogh theft in Egypt". BBC News. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  6. "Egypt Court Jails Officials Over Van Gogh's "Vase with Viscaria" Stolen in August". artdaily.org. April 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  7. Staff (2010-08-22). "Stolen Van Gogh painting still missing". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  8. Elkamel, Sara. "Egypt's jailed culture ministry official creates art behind bars". Ahram Online. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  9. "Egyptian tycoon offers reward for Van Gogh theft". Reuters. 25 August 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2016.