Andy Wargol's 'Reigning Queens' painting stolen in the Netherlands (photo)

Photo: Andy Wargoal's 'Reigning Queens'

On the night of November 1, thieves broke into the MPV gallery in Oisterwijk (Netherlands) and stole four works by American artist Andy Wargoal, NOS reports. Two of them were stolen by the “amateur burglars” were thrown away while fleeing the scene of the crime, gallery founder Mark Pettet Visser said.

The paintings were being stored in the MPV for sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair, which runs from November 24 to December 1. The burglars broke into the gallery by blowing up the front door.

MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk (Netherlands)

They stole four silkscreen prints by Andy Wargol from the series “Reigning Queens”, which depict Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland (since 2018 in Eswatini). All the paintings were painted by the “king of pop art” in 1985.

“Reigning Queens” Andy Wargola

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"The bomb blast was so strong that my entire building was destroyed. So they did that part of the job well, almost too well. And then they ran to the car with the paintings, and it turned out that they didn't fit in it… At that point, the works were torn out of their frames and, as you can imagine, they were damaged beyond repair, because it was impossible to take them out whole and undamaged," said gallery owner Marc Pettet Wisse.

He did not name the cost of the works, but noted that they were insured.

As a result, the robbers kept only the portraits of Elizabeth II and Margrethe II, and simply threw away the other two paintings.

Art historian Willem Baars told NOS that the stolen works were not rare. Wargol had made numerous screenprints of the four queens. In particular, in 2021, four such portraits of Queen Beatrix were sold at auction in The Hague for 217 thousand euros.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at Warhol's previous exhibition

“Warhol's works can be bought anywhere in the world, but because they depict Beatrix, they are especially popular here [in the Netherlands],” Baars added.

The art historian believes that it will be difficult for the perpetrators to sell the stolen works by Wargol: they are numbered like the works stored in Oisterwijk and are damaged.

“If there is a tear in the canvas, such a work of art loses its value,” Baars said.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga