In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

Thu 12 May 2011

In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 22:58

On the 7th of May in 1994, Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream was recovered, three months after it had been stolen from the National Gallery of Norway.

It was stolen on the day of the the opening of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer: the painting had been moved down to a less secure display as a part of the Olympic Festivities.

A note was left which said “Thanks for the poor security”. A month later, the gallery received a ransom demand of US$1 million which they refused to pay.

The Scream – Wikipedia

After the gallery refused a ransom demand of US$1 million in March 1994, Norwegian police set up a sting operation with assistance from the British Police (SO10) and the Getty Museum, and the painting was recovered undamaged on May 7, 1994. In January 1996, four men were convicted in connection with the theft, including Pål Enger, who in 1988 had been convicted of stealing Munch’s Vampire. However, they were released on appeal on legal grounds: the British agents involved in the sting operation had entered Norway under false identities.

The painting was stolen again twenty years later in 2004 (and recovered again within months) and currently resides back in The National Gallery of Norway, presumably with slightly better security.

And on the 7th of May in 2011 these expressionistic images were captured in locations all over the world (except not in Norway):