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CrimeNetherlands

Netherlands: Thieves steal Warhol queens prints from gallery

November 1, 2024

Armed robbers likely damaged two works they got away with, while leaving two more on the sidewalk. The stolen prints are less valuable than drawings or paintings but still "worth a considerable sum," the owner said.

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A man takes a cellphone photograph of one of two impressions of Queen Elizabeth II of England from Andy Warhol's 'Reigning Queens' series of silkscreen prints
Queen Elizabeth II of England was one of the images stolen — but Queens Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntfombi Twala of Eswatini were left behind as they didn't fit inside the getaway vehicleImage: Peter Dejong/AP/picture alliance

Art robbers have made off with two Andy Warhol silkscreen prints from his "Reigning Queens" series according to Mark Peet Visser, owner of MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, Netherlands.

Visser said surveillance footage showed armed men using heavy explosives to blast their way into his gallery, as well as the robbers abandoning two other works which they were unable to fit into their getaway car.

The works the thieves successfully absconded with were portraits of England's Queen Elizabeth II and Denmark's Queen Margarethe II. Both works on paper are believed to have been damaged when broken out of their frames.

Three impressions of Queen Margarethe II of Denmark from Andy Warhol's 'Reigning Queens' series of silkscreen prints
Two of Warhol's 'Reigning Queens' were made off with, one was Margarethe II of DenmarkImage: Peter Dejong/AP/picture alliance

Portraits of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntfombi Twala of Eswatini were left on the sidewalk outside the gallery.

Warhol, a US Pop Art giant, created the Reigning Queens series in 1985, two years before he died.

A shattered window of the MPV art gallery in Oisterwijk in the Netherlands, pictured on November 1, 2024, after the break-in.
The thieves used explosives to force entry into the galleryImage: Iris van den Broek/ANP/picture alliance

Visser, who said the works were to be shown at the upcoming PAN Amsterdam art fair in late November, did not put a figure on the value of the prints, only to say, "The works are worth a considerable sum."

Being serially produced prints, the works are not as valuable as paintings or unique drawings, nevertheless, a series of four signed and numbered Beatrix prints sold for €217,000 ($236,000) at a 2021 auction at Venduehuis in The Hague. 

Police and others stand outside MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, Netherlands, where safety tape and a barricade cordon off the sidewalk
Thieves used explosives to make their way into MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk Image: Iris van den Broek/ANP/picture alliance

js/msh (AFP, dpa)