Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum in lockdown

Vincent van Gogh's 1884 painting 'Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring' which was stolen from the Singer Laren museum. /AFP

A Vincent Van Gogh painting has been stolen from the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands in a night-time raid, its director said on Monday.

The gallery, in the town of Laren to the east of Amsterdam, is currently shut to the public due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The painting, called

Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring

dates to 1884, according to AFP, and depicts a woman in a garden with sparse red-flowered bushes and a church building in the background. The work was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

The painting has an estimated value of between one to six million euros ($1.1 million to $6.6 million), local media said.

Singer Laren museum director, Evert van Os, speaks to the press outside the museum, which is closed to the public due to COVID-19. /AFP

"I am shocked and absolutely livid that this has happened," Jan Rudolph de Lorm, director of the Singer Laren museum, said in a video statement posted on YouTube.

"This splendid and moving artwork by one of our great artists has been stolen, taken from the community," he said.

The theft happened on what would have been the 167th birthday of the artist. Police said the thieves had forced the building's glass front doors open at around 03:15 local time.

Source(s): AFP