The Van Gogh Museum Heist

In 1991, two thieves stole 20 paintings totaling an estimated $200 million from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Police figured that one of the thieves must have hidden inside the museum overnight and overpowered the guards then shut off all alarm systems. Less than an hour after the robbery, all the paintings were found in the getaway car, and mysteriously, the men were never caught.

Again in 2002, the museum was robbed early in the morning. Two Van Gogh paintings, View of the Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, were stolen totaling $3 million. The theives climbed through a first story window, broken by a ladder, and took off with the two works of art. The thieves were caught and convicted, but due to a legal loophole the thieves had become the legal owners of the paintings they have stolen. The one requirement was the theives had to prove they stole the art, which they managed to due. Needless to say, the paintings were never recovered.

The View of the Sea at Scheveningen