Munch's 'The Scream' recovered - May 7, 1994

On this day in 1994, one version of Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream" was recovered months after it was stolen from the National Gallery in Norway. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Stay in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, Welcome to this day in History class,
where we learn a smidgen of history every day. Today
is May seven nineteen. The day was May seventh, nine,

(00:27):
just about three months after it was stolen Edvard Monk's
painting The Scream was recovered from a hotel room in Norway.
Monk created four versions of The Scream, a well known
expressionistic work depicting a person screaming in anguish. One of
those versions, the three painting, made with tempera on cardboard,

(00:50):
was in the National Museum in Oslo. As the nineteen
Winter Olympics were approaching, the museum moved The Scream to
the ground floor gallery, even though the ground floor is
typically the riskiest floor when it comes to potential for
art theft. The museum had safety systems like cameras and alarms,
but on February twel the day of the Olympics opening

(01:15):
ceremony in Norway, two men arrived at the National Gallery
in a van. They leaned a ladder against the wall,
broke a window and climbed inside the building to steal
the valuable painting. At around six thirty in the morning,
the museum's alarm was triggered. A guard called the police,
but the men had already cut the Scream off the

(01:35):
wall and escaped with the painting. The whole operation only
took fifty seconds and was captured on tape by a
surveillance camera. The thieves left a postcard in the gallery
that read thanks for the poor security. Some people believed
that the theft was a publicity stunt. It would be
nearly impossible to sell a famous stolen work of art.

(01:59):
A former pre east and leader in the anti abortion
movement did a radio interview less than a week after
the theft where he claimed the painting would turn up
if the National Television Company aired an anti abortion film
called The Silent Scream That never happened. In early March,
a lawyer working for the anti abortion movement said one

(02:20):
of his clients could provide for the paintings return if
he was paid a million dollars. That claim was also
dismissed when the National Gallery received a ransom demand of
one million dollars. They refused to pay it, but the
assistant police chief in Oslo did enlist the Scotland Yard
Squad that specializes in art and antiquity stuff to help

(02:41):
solve the crime and get the painting back. They mounted
a sting operation to catch the people who were seeking
the ransom, and planted a rumor that the National Gallery
set up a deal with the Getty Museum in California,
where the Getty would pay the ransom if it could
borrow the painting after it was returned. The thieves took
de bit In late April and early May, police found

(03:03):
pieces of the painting's frame at a bus stop and
other places in nitz it All, near Oslo, but detectives
reached the end of their trail when two British agents
posing as officials from the getting Museum said they would
pay for the painting. On Saturday in May seventh, they
viewed the painting in room of the Hotel oscar Stride.

(03:26):
Then they went to the Grand Hotel in Oslo, where
they were supposed to pay the ransom. There three people
were arrested, though one, an art dealer who the galleries
chairman had enlisted as a go between, was soon let off.
The painting was recovered and undamaged. In four men were
convicted for theft and attempting to sell stolen property. Paul

(03:50):
and Year, who had been to prison before for stealing
another moons work, received a sentence of six years and
three months in prison, but because the British detect times
working on the case entered Norway using false identities, which
was illegal, the convictions of three of the thieves were
overturned and they were released in nine and Year, who

(04:11):
remained in prison, escaped when he had a little over
a year left to serve. In early nineteen nine, he
dipped off during a group visit to a new Oslo airport.
After two weeks he was found at a rail station
wearing dark glasses and a wig. The National Gallery improved
a security after the ordeal. In two thousand four, another

(04:33):
version of The Scream was stolen from the Monk Museum
in Norway. It was recovered two years later, so damaged.
I'm Eves Deathcote and hopefully you know a little more
about history today than you did yesterday. I have one
interesting additional note for you. The past Dale version of
The Scream sold at auction for a hundred and nineteen

(04:55):
point nine million dollars in twelve. We love it if
you left us a comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
At t d i h C Podcast. Thank you again
for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts

(05:17):
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