AMSTERDAM: Two works by artist Andy Warhol were stolen during the night of Thursday to Friday from a gallery in the south of the Netherlands, while two other screenprints were abandoned nearby.

The thieves used heavy explosives to break into the MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk in North Brabant province and took off with two screenprints showing former queens Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margrethe II of Denmark, Dutch media NOS reported. “The entrance of the gallery was blown out and there was glass all around the building,” NOS said.

Not much is known yet about the theft “but it is strange that explosives were used,” well-known Dutch art detective Arthur Brand said. “That’s not common for art thefts,” said Brand, who has made headlines for recovering artworks, including a missing Picasso and a stolen Van Gogh.

The “Reigning Queens” series by Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol were on display in the gallery before going on sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair that runs from Nov 24 to Dec 1.

Two other works from the same series, showing former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned on the street because the full haul did not fit in the getaway car, NOS said.

“The works are worth a considerable sum,” the owner of the gallery Mark Peet Visser told local media Omroep Brabant.

Brand, however, said the stolen artworks were “not unique and most likely tens of them were made.” “This makes it easier to sell than unique works, but not that much easier,” he said.

The “Reigning Queens” series was created in 1985, two years before the American artist’s death, when all four queens were in power.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024