Not A Pretty Picture
The Scream, Munch, 1910. / MUNCH MUSEUM
It's been almost two years since police recovered The Scream and Madonna, the Edvard Munchs that were stolen in 2004 from the Munch Museum in Oslo. We've known for a while that both paintings were damaged during the theft and after. Tomorrow they go on display again at the museum, and the general public is getting a first look at the full extent of the damage. Not good.
The essentials, from the Associated Press:
At a preview of the exhibition called "The Scream and Madonna Revisited," which opens Friday, water damage to the lower left corner of "The Scream" was clearly visible, as were scrapes to both paintings.
"There has been an extremely comprehensive process to restore the paintings. There was significant damage," said Gro Balas, a spokesman for the city of Oslo, which owns the museum. "There is still a moisture stain on 'The Scream' that cannot be repaired."
Damage to "Madonna" included cuts and tears that were repaired by gluing threads of canvas in the damaged areas back together one at a time, said Mette Havrevold, who led the restoration effort. She said the damage that can still be seen in the painting will be repaired later in the year.
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In 1997, my family and I visited the Munch Museum in Oslo. We were all fascinated by one of the world's most famous, if not best, paintings – The Scream.
I was absolutely saddened by the theft in 2004, wondering why on earth would someone steal a highly acclaimed painting, knowing very well that no sensible collector would want to buy a piece of stolen art? Worse, when it was returned to the Museum, The Scream, which had suffered virtually irreparable defacement and gone through a painful process of restoration, seemed to have lost its perfection (despite the excellent touch-up).
The masterpiece's original beauty and glory had since gone -- a great loss to the world of art. Would the thieves be remorseful? Or were they all out just to make a name for themselves? Their absolute insanity is beyond words.
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