Some anti-mafia police in Naples, Italy have recovered two Vincent Van Gogh paintings that were stolen from an Amsterdam museum in 2002. The paintings were reportedly found during a raid that was targeting cocaine trafficking.
At the time of their disappearance the authorities had no leads and were baffled that the burglars were able to get away with the heist. In addition to the paintings the raid also recovered tens millions of euros worth of property.
According to the Van Gogh Museum the paintings had been roughed up a bit but were in “relatively good condition.”
The museum’s director Axel Rüger expressed his gratitude to the police in a press release.
“The paintings have been found! That I would be able to ever pronounce these words is something I had no longer dared to hope for.”
The two paintings are not some of Van Gogh’s most famous work, but the museum states that they have a lot of “art historical” value. One is the Seascape at Scheveningen, which is only one of two seascapes that Van Gogh ever did, and the other is the Congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, which is the only painting he did that is still in its original stretcher frame.
