Van Gogh’s 130-year-old painting stolen from Dutch museum, thieves take advantage of COVID-19 lockdown

While all the world forces are trying to tackle the Coronavirus outbreak, criminals are busy taking advantage of the current situation to carry out unimaginable crimes. In a recent update, thieves stole Vincent van Gogh painting from the Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam on Monday morning.

The museum was closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The painting, titled the Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring, was made in 1884. As per authorities, it was stolen in a pre-dawn break-in. The criminals came inside by smashing a glass door and took the painting away. The thieves only took away the Van Gogh painting and nothing else.
Jan Rudolph de Lorm, one of the museum's directors, was clearly shocked and annoyed with the incident. He said, "Art is there to be seen, to be enjoyed, to inspire and to bring solace, particularly in these troubled times in which we find ourselves."

Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring was one of Van Gogh's early works, when he was just starting his career as a painter. After this, he went on to become a prolific artist and started painting his post-impressionist paintings.
The Singer Laren Museum had taken the painting on loan from the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands as part of an exhibition. But the Laren Museum was closed down amid the COVID-19 spread. Meanwhile, the police and detectives are hunting for the painting in and around the city.

Famous art detective Arthur Brand has been looped in to find the painting; he is renowned for recovering stolen Nazi art including Hitler's horses.
According to the authorities, the value of the Van Gogh painting is $6.6 million.