Reports claim stolen Munch masterpieces destroyed
Police in Norway denied a report today saying Edvard Munch’s stolen masterpieces The Scream and Madonna had been burned by thieves fearing police were closing in on them.
The priceless works were stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo by masked gunmen on August 22 last.
Although three suspects have been arrested, police have yet to recover the paintings and have remained tight-lipped about their investigation.
Today, the Oslo tabloid Dagbladet, one of Norway’s largest newspapers, reported that criminal sources say the paintings were burned because those holding the stolen works feared police were closing in on them. Being caught in possession of the works could lead to a long prison term.
Dagbladet also claimed that a classified internal police report has the same information.
“This is completely unknown to the Oslo police,” the head of the Munch theft investigation, Iver Stensrud, said on the state radio network NRK. He said he knew nothing about a secret report or the paintings being burned.
The stolen paintings are among Munch’s best known. The Scream, a 20th-century icon that depicts an anguished figure who appears to be screaming or shielding his ears from a scream, is too recognisable for the thieves to try to sell, experts say.
There are three other known versions of The Scream.
