A stolen Vincent van Gogh painting ‘Spring Garden’, which was stolen three years ago from a museum at midnight robbery, has been recovered by a Dutch art detective in the Netherlands.
Arthur Brand, who was dubbed the “Indiana Jones of the Art World” for finding a series of lost high-profile paintings, said finding the 19th-century oil artwork was “one of the greatest moments of my life”.
In a statement, Groninger Museum said, “We have incredibly good news. The painting ‘Spring Garden’ … is back.”
The art crime unit of Dutch police confirmed that the 1884 Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring painting, which is worth 3 to 6 million euros ($3.2-6.4m), had been recovered.
Officer Richard Bronswijk said that Arthur Brand, in collaboration with the Dutch police, has solved this issue and this is certainly the real one, there’s no doubt about it.
Three years ago on March 30, 2020, the painting was stolen from the Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam. A suspect smashed the glass door before running out with the painting.
Dutch police arrested a man, Nils, for the theft in April 2021, and he was later convicted and punished to eight years in jail.
From a source in the criminal world I heard who had purchased the van Gogh from Nils, Brand said.
That person was identified as Peter Roy K, who is nowadays in jail for a separate case, Brand said. Roy wanted to use the well-known painting as collateral to negotiate a lessening in his punishment.
But the location of the painting remained unknown until an anonymous man contacted the brand two weeks ago and said that he wanted to return it.
Brand convinced the man who had “nothing to do with the theft” to return the artwork after some negotiation.
