July 6, 2024

"In 1988, Mr. Enger... slipped through a window at the Munch Museum in Oslo to steal a version of 'The Scream.'"

"But a hitch in their plan led them instead to snatch another Munch masterwork, 'Love and Pain,' also known as 'Vampire.' 'The disappointment lasted days,' Mr. Enger later recalled, 'but then it started to become fun.' In part, that was because he kept the painting hidden in the ceiling of a pool hall he owned that was frequented by off-duty police officers. 'They don’t know it’s hanging just one meter from them,' he added. 'That was the best feeling. We let them play for free just to have them there.'... Mr. Enger spent four years in prison for the theft.... He turned his sights back to his muse and quarry.... He and an accomplice clambered up a ladder outside the National Gallery in Oslo, smashed a window and... slipped out with the museum’s version of 'The Scream'.... The thieves left behind the ladder, their wire cutters and a note: 'A thousand thanks for your poor security.'... ... Mr. Enger was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, where he took up painting.... After his release, he established an art career of his own... In 2015, he was charged with stealing 17 paintings from an Oslo gallery."

From "Paal Enger, Who Stole Munch’s 'The Scream,' Is Dead at 57/A promising player for a storied Norwegian soccer club, he instead found infamy for stealing one of the world’s most famous artworks" (NYT).

Performance art?

"The Scream" is — I think — the only work of art for which I have a tag. My normal practice is to use the name of the artist, but I don't have an Edvard Munch tag. Only a "Scream" tag. It's useful! E.g.:

48 comments:

Tom T. said...

Smug sociopath. Wouldn't have wished for his death, but won't miss him.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Oh look, there's Hillary. Has Althouse ever apologized for voting for her?

Jersey Fled said...

Well, it isn’t to make her look more human

Kate said...

Dear Art World: Don't trust Oslo with any paintings.

Achilles said...

That's the face of a woman who attacked her husband's rape victims in a variety of ways.

Achilles said...

Looking at that picture both Obama and Hillary had their mouths altered to be larger than normal.

Obama's mouth is obviously altered.

narciso said...

No thats jake sullivan

Narr said...

Makes me want to . . . hurl!

JAORE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tommy Duncan said...

It makes me want to (Shout)
Kick my heels up and (Shout)
Throw my hands up and (Shout)
Throw my head back and (Shout)
Come on now (Shout)

[Chorus 1]
Don't forget to say you will
Don't forget to say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(Say you will)
Say it right now, baby
(Say you will)
Come on, come on
(Say you will)
Say that you
(Say you will)
Come on now

JAORE said...

Hillary: If you open WIDE and tilt your head WAY back the locusts can exit in a more impressive swarm

Leland said...

Is that a blister in the middle of Hillary's tongue? [things I thought I'd never have to ask]

Iman said...

“Make me wanna holler, throw up on my hands.”

—- “Messy Marvin” Gaye

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...

So a conspiracy known as Paal Enger (sometimes as "Mr. Enger" just to confuse us) slipped through a window to steal a painting. How did they do that? One at a time or all abreast? Must have been a wide window if Paal Enger entered shoulder-to-shoulder. For some reason, NYT doesn't elaborate on this interesting point. Maybe knowing helps Trump.

Now, after 57 years of joint machination and contrivance, they have managed to die on the same day as a non plus ultra of coordination. Not much explanation of that, either.

Trump gains in mysterious ways.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Hillary Clinton: The face of pure evil. The Gaping Maw of hell.

Yancey Ward said...

Hillary didn't need a gaping maw- she dissolves her prey and sucks them up with a straw-like appendage.

Quaestor said...

Regarding that disturbing image from 2016...

Quaestor said...

What threatens totalitarian ambitions more, the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency?

Or singular pronouns?

Aggie said...

Who's that guy that resembles Obama?

Scott Patton said...

If a picture hurts your ears...

Amexpat said...

Enger was considered a gentleman thief here in Norway. The version that he stole was in the old National Gallery.

Another version of the Scream, along with some other Munch Paintings, were stolen from the old Munch Museum in 2004. The thieves there had automatic weapons and were brutal. They stole the paintings to created a diversion for a bank depository robbery a few weeks later, where they murdered, as part of their paln, the policeman who was the operative leader.

I heard about the 2004 robbery on the news shortly before I was to guide a tour in the National Gallery. When I went into the Munch room at the National Gallery, where the original version of Scream was, I saw cameras from CNN and local stations. I guess they wanted to show the version not stolen for their story. One of the local TV stations asked me if they could film me while guiding. I said no, but they did it anyway. Makes me wonder why they asked.

Lilly, a dog said...

Remember Hillary's face when a loud noise startled her at the D convention?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycDe9oaRBUs

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

What is that spot in Hillary's tongue. Jupiter's is a persistent storm. What's Hillay's.

FullMoon said...

25 comments so far, and no reference to Kamala or Monica.

Deep State Reformer said...

Sociopaths are gonna do their sociopathy whenever they can right? Sociopaths are like hornets nests in that they only leave two realistic options. Which are, first utterly destroy the nest, or secondly avoid the nest and leave it the hell alone. So there it is.

Zavier Onasses said...

"Enger later recalled....he kept the painting hidden in the ceiling of a pool hall....'They don’t know it’s hanging just one meter from them,' he added."

It seems Enger was speaking of past events. Why then the present "don't" (do not) rather than "didn't" (did not)? The following "it's" usually refers to present (it is).

Was Enger speaking in English? If contemporary Norse or other language, who made the translation? If translated, was the writer intending to show Enger had sloppy grammar?

Yeah. Forget about it Xavier. It's the New York Times.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

She's hoping to catch some flies. Not the baseball kind of fly, though.

RCOCEAN II said...

Are those Obama and Hillary's natural teeth? Look at how..perfect, they are.

Bob Boyd said...

If you look closely you can see the camera caught 2 of the numerous big black bugs that flew from Hillary's poison piehole.
Where the creatures went after that is not known. Some say her beetles always return and whisper what they have heard in the private rooms of the powerful.
Others claim they fly swiftly and silently into the night, seeking for Hillary's enemies, carrying dark spells painted in tiny symbols of blood and gold upon their backs and the seeds of terrible curses in their abdomens.

Christopher B said...

EYE BLEACH!! STAT!!!

Drago said...

Hillary was coached years ago to loudly laugh, as in fake belly laugh, to try and humanize her cold, dead fish persona with the rubes.

Basically try and fake being like Reagan who always reacted wonderfully and warmly with good humor when things were actually humorous.

But all that she is capable of delivering is that bizarre high pitch screech-cackle that fools no one...except the LLR's and dems.

Prof. M. Drout said...

Admit it: If Hilary Clinton were to unhinge her lower jaw and swallow a live guinea pig, you'd only be mildly surprised.

ron winkleheimer said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU_Dpdbl0

That link will take you to an interesting little documentary about a guy that stole around $1.5 Billion worth of paintings from museums, mostly by grabbing it during the day and walking out with it, and for his personal enjoyment. He didn't sell any of it. Apparently most museums have horrible security.

wendybar said...

Kamala makes that same face when SHE cackles.

ron winkleheimer said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhkRYVpxNrQ

Yancey Ward said...

Lem,

Althouse posted about the tongue spot at the time.

gadfly said...

She knows that you know that she is a mee-mawing "knocked-kneed knackered old nosebag."~British comedian Hylda Baker

boatbuilder said...

That Obama/Hilary "photo" appears to be A.I. generated.

narciso said...

Fake but accurate

Mikey NTH said...

The art thief sounds like one of those "Ain't I cute?" types that never advance beyond early adolescence.

Iman said...

pantsuited pantload
two left wings and two fat thighs
K F C special

Leland said...

Yancey Ward said...
Lem,

Althouse posted about the tongue spot at the time.


Thanks, but I’m not Lem.

Yancey Ward said...

Leland, I didn't see your comment- I was replying to Lem who mentioned the same thing.

William said...

I read the obit. He was a talented soccer player. He would show up for high school practice driving a variety of late model cars. He threw away his workout outfit afterwards because he couldn't be bothered doing laundry. Whatever sadness and pauses his later life might have brought, as a high school kid, he lived the fantasy. And if you're going to live out any of your fantasy lives, high school is the right time to do it.

GatorNavy said...

The encoder cable attached to the electronic board responsible for deep laugh response was programmed to open the android Hillary jaws much too wide. Need to back it down a few steps

Narayanan said...

Hillary Clinton: The face of pure evil. The Gaping Maw of hell.
===========
does AI use as input for memes?

Blair said...

"Hillary Clinton's gaping maw". That's what Bill calls it, but not her mouth.