Art Culture

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Swiss art heist worth $163 million

On Sunday three robbers walked into Zurich’s E.G. Burhle Collection and stole four 19th century masterpieces worth a combined $163 million. Their plunder — a Degas, van Gogh, Cézanne and a Monet — is the second multi-million dollar art theft in Switzerland in less than a week; last Wednesday night in Pfäffikon, two thieves made off with two Picassos worth $4.4 million.

With almost 200 works, the E.G. Burhle collection is quite possibly the world’s largest privately owned collection of French impressionists. The collection has been controversial however, on account of the fact that the owner, Emile George Burhle, was a major arms supplier to both the Allied and Axis powers during World War II. But despite controversy, the collection is admired, both by visitors and thieves alike. With its relaxed atmosphere — the collection is housed in a quiet 19th century villa with no metal detectors as the hallway is to narrow to accommodate them — getting out with four paintings may have seemed easy as the thieves sat scheming for their crime.

But the recent theft confuses authorities; the four works are major and therefore so widely known and recognized that they will be unsalable in the art market. This poses the question, in addition to asking “who dunnit,” of “why?” Add to that the manner in which the thieves committed the crime — entering wearing black ski masks and forcing everyone in the museum to lie down on the floor, then escaping in a white van with the paintings protruding from the back — the theft doesn’t really have the feel of grander, more spectacular art heists of the 20th century. Instead, according to the authorities, the

crime seems pretty haphazard.

Getting the paintings back might be another thing, but the fact that no buyers are lined up helps with the recovery of famous works, much like the recovery of Edvard Munch’s The Scream in 2006. When thieves have a difficult time finding someone to buy their loot they must make more calls to more contacts, which in turn gives the police more leads.

Art theft is in fact a big business; the F.B.I estimates that the overall

loss of art from museums and other cultural properties accounts for up to $6 billion per year. In this case, the thieves may not even be looking to sell the pieces. High valued works can also be exchanged for other organized crime goods like drugs or weapons. The Swiss Federal Office of Culture therefore declared that they had therefore been notifying authorities in Latin America and Florida to keep them on the alert.

60,000 euros are being offered to anyone with knowledge of the thieves or their whereabouts.