Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter well-known for many of his great works among which is the famous 'Starry Night,' was always a great figure in the world of art. The famous one-eared artist has much more value for those that follow his life work of creating more than 2000 paintings than those that are familiar with just the popular pieces. When two more of those great canvases were found, those individuals got to enjoy Van Gogh once again.
Paintings are considered to be priceless
Works in question are 'Congregation The Church at Nuenen' and 'Sea View at Scheveningen,' which are considered to be of more value than the money can offer.
They were previously held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a museum which has the greatest number of Van Gogh works than any other collection in the world with more than 200 paintings and 500 more drawings. Dutch culture minister Jet Bussemaker would argue that their real value can be seen by those who loved them before and much more than the eyes of Criminals could see.
Thieves say they wanted to steal more popular pieces for more value but those had better security
In 2002, the thieves broke in through the roof and managed to steal a couple of the finest pieces of art but as they later said they were aiming for different paintings that held more value and that would potentially bring much more profit.
It was even harder to find the potential buyer for the works, knowing that they can’t display the art. However, the paintings found a new owner eventually, hardly known mafioso Raffaele Imperiale, who was at the time running a coffee shop in Amsterdam paid about $380,000 for the paintings.
His lawyers told the New York Times he had bought them because he was "fond of art" and they were a "bargain".
Even though he was fond of art, the Van Gogh masterpieces were stationed for years in a safe under wraps and cloths where no one could enjoy them. Italian police have retrieved the paintings last September in one of their action against the popular dealers and criminals. Director of the Van Gogh Museum Axel Ruger expressed great satisfaction that the paintings are back on display, saying that it was one of the most joyous days of his career.
