£5m Van Gogh painting stolen from a Dutch museum currently closed due to coronavirus

A painting by Vincent van Gogh has been stolen from a Dutch museum currently closed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The museum was closed on March 2 in line with national measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

Police said the painting with an estimated value of up to £5m was stolen on Monday at the Singer Laren Museum in what appeared to be a smash-and-grab from the front entrance.

During a press conference broadcast on Youtube, the museum’s director, Jan Rudolph de Lorm, said he was “incredibly pissed off” after thieves stole the painting, which had been on loan from the Groninger Museum.

De Lorm said: “This is exactly what you don’t want as a museum that has a painting on loan.

A beautiful and moving painting by one of our greatest painters, stolen from the community … This must come back as soon as possible, so that we can enjoy and be comforted by this beautiful art again. Art deserves to be seen and shared by us, the community.”

Arthur Brandt, an art detective, told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that the artwork could be worth up to €6m (£5m).

The painting was stolen on the day Van Gogh was born 167 years ago.

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