Police are investigating the theft of a Vincent Van Gogh painting from the Singer Laren.
Jan Buteijn/ Singer Laren
Many tourist hotspots have closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus over the last month, including the Singer Laren museum in the Netherlands. While the Dutch museum was closed, the Vincent Van Gogh oil painting “Spring Garden” was stolen in an overnight raid, according to a Monday report from CBS News.
“We are deeply shocked, angry and sad. A beautiful and moving painting by one of our greatest artists has been withdrawn from the community,” Singer Laren’s director Jan Rudolph de Lorm said in a statement on the museum’s website. “It is terrible for the Groninger Museum and also for Singer Laren, but especially for all of us. Because art is there to be shared, to enjoy, to be inspired and to be comforted, especially in times like this.”
The 1884 painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum for an exhibition titled “Mirror of the Soul.” A statement from the Groninger Museum’s website confirmed that police are investigating the theft.
Wij zijn diep geschokt, boos en verdrietig. Er is een schilderij van Van Gogh gestolen. Het is vreselijk voor het @groningermuseum, voor Singer, maar vooral voor ons allemaal. Want kunst is om van te genieten, geïnspireerd te raken en getroost te worden, zeker in deze tijden. pic.twitter.com/eJezSTKSQl
— Singer Laren (@SingerLaren) March 30, 2020