Last October 16th, alleged thieves stole seven masterpieces from the Kunsthal contemporary art museum in the Netherlands. According to the latest investigations, the stolen works may have been burned by the mother of one of the perpetrators.
Olga Dogaru, mother of Romanian citizen Radu Dogaru, one of the accused thieves, told investigators how she buried the artworks under an abandoned house's garden, then moved them to a cemetery, and, finally, burned them in her own home's fireplace.
The public prosecutor on the case says that the woman decided to burn the art after investigators searched her home last February, believing that "if the evidence was never found, there would be no proof and [the accused] would be set free."
"I first prepared the fire in my bathroom fireplace. Then, I went to the cemetery and unburied the paintings, which I brought back home. I placed the bag that contained the seven paintings inside the fireplace. I added wood, shoes, rubber boots, and I waited until they burned down completely," said Olga Dogaru, according to the Mediafax news agency.
The Romanian public prosecutor's office filed charges against two people, one of whom is still being sought, and accuses four others as accessories to the theft for helping move the stolen art or attempting to sell it.
The art works involved in the theft are Pablo Picasso's "Harlequin Head" (1971); Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in Black and White" (1919); Claude Monet's "Waterloo Bridge, London" (1901) and "Charing Cross Bridge, London" (1901); Paul Gauguin's "Girl in Front of Open Window" (1888); Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait" (1890); and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed" (2002).
After an examination of the ashes and the remains of nails used to set the canvases on their frames found inside Olga Dogaru's home, only three of the artworks are believed to have been burned; the whereabouts of the remaining four are unknown.