See this article, “Armed Robbers Steal ‘The Scream’ in Oslo.” Basically, that most famous of Munch paintings was stolen the other day, along with a less famous but still cool painting by Munch called “Madonna.” A few thoughts:
* I’ve been a big fan of Munch’s work and all of the various parodies of “The Scream” for years. In fact, I used to have a web site about it, one where I had pictures of various “Scream” things I collected (a keychain, blow-up dolls, posters, pillows, coffee mugs, etc.) and pictures of “Scream” things I came across on the ‘net and such. The site was popular to the point where I was quoted at one point in time in a newspaper story that ran in The Des Monies Register and then various wire services. The Internet is a weird place; put up a web site that goes into enough detail about something, and before you know it, people quote you like you knew what you were talking about.
Anyway, this makes me think that maybe I’ll set up that “Scream stuff” site again.
* Another story I read about it here, this one an AP wire story, said that the paintings had virtually no protection or security around them. Basically, the robbers came in, waving guns around, and yanked the pictures off the wall, and ran away. Considering the fact that a different copy of “The Scream” was stolen about 10 years ago, you’d think that they’d have at least a little security around this thing…