Expatica news

Police investigate another suspected art theft

18 April 2008

BERNE – The disappearance of a painting by Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler on its way to an exhibition in the capital Berne is being treated as yet another major art theft in Switzerland by police.

The picture was collected by a transportation company but never arrived at its destination, said exhibition organiser Matthias Frehner.

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) is widely regarded as Switzerland’s national painter, famous for works such as "The Lumberjack" and "William Tell".

The exhibition, entitled "A Symbolic Vision" running until 10 August, is a collection of the artist’s works and is on display at the Berne Museum of Fine Arts.

It follows the spectacular daylight robbery from the Emil Buehrle private art collection in Zurich in February.

Armed thieves then escaped with four pictures worth CHF 180 million. Two, Monet’s Champ de Coquelicots Près de Vétheuil 1879, and Edgar Degas’ Ludovic Lepic et Ses Filles 1871 were discovered a few days later in an abandoned car in the city.

Branches de Marronier en Fleurs 1890 by Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne’s L’Enfant dans une Veste Rouge 1888/1890 are still missing.

In a separate robbery, few days earlier, two Picassos, on loan from Germany, worth an estimated CHF 4 million were stolen from an exhibition at Pfaeffikon not far from Zurich.

[dpa / Expatica]