A cameraman films the glass door which was smashed during a break-in at the Singer Museum (Picture: AP)

A Dutch museum says that a painting by Vincent van Gogh was stolen in a raid overnight.

The Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam says ‘Spring Garden’ by the Dutch master was stolen in the early hours of Monday.

The museum is currently closed because of restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, the museum and police said today.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any paintings or other artworks were stolen in the heist.


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Spring Garden by Vincent Van Gogh (Picture: Vincent van Gogh/Wikimedia Commons )

Museum general director Evert van Os said the institution that houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer is ‘angry, shocked, sad’ at the theft of the painting.



Singer Laren museum director Jan Rudolph de Lorm said: I’m shocked and unbelievably annoyed that this has happened,” said

‘This beautiful and moving painting by one of our greatest artists stolen – removed from the community,’ he added.

‘It is very bad for the Groninger Museum, it is very bad for the Singer, but it is terrible for us all because art exists to be seen and shared by us, the community, to enjoy to draw inspiration from and to draw comfort from, especially in these difficult times.’

The Singer Museum in Laren, Netherlands (Picture: AP)

Police said in a statement that the thief or thieves smashed a glass door to get into the museum. That set off an alarm that sent officers rushing to the museum but by the time they got there the painting was gone.

A team including forensics and art theft experts was studying video footage and questioning neighbours.

The value of the work, which was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, was not immediately known.

Before the closure, the museum was hosting an exhibition titled ‘Mirror of the Soul’ with works by artists ranging from Toorop to Mondrian, in cooperation with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.

The museum houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer, with a focus on modernism such as neo-impressionism, pointillism, expressionism and cubism.

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