Modigliani's Woman With Fan was one of five paintings stolen from a Paris museum last week.
Modigliani's Woman With Fan was one of five paintings stolen from a Paris museum last week.

Paris raid marks almost a century of art theft



The theft last week of five paintings by artists including Picasso and Matisse is one of the biggest robberies in the art world in decades. The paintings, which were reported missing from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris on Thursday morning after staff discovered a broken window, are reported to be worth almost Dh454 million in total. The works stolen were Pastoral by Henri Matisse (1906), Olive Tree near l'Estaque by Georges Braque (1906), Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso (1911), Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani (1919) and Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Léger (1922). The raid, which has been branded a "serious crime against the heritage of humanity" by France's deputy culture secretary, Cristophe Girard, is just the latest in a long line that have taken place over the years.

Back in 1911 Vincenzo Peruggia committed one of the most famous art thefts in history when he stole the Mona Lisa after hiding overnight in the Louvre in Paris. In the morning Peruggia walked calmly out of the museum with possibly the most famous painting in the world - minus its frame - hidden under a museum worker's smock. Although the absence of the painting was quickly noticed, it was wrongly assumed to have been taken away for cleaning. Police were only notified the following day. The discovery that Leonardo da Vinci's 16th-century masterpiece had been spirited away caused a worldwide furore, and it was a further two years before it was found in Italy and returned. Peruggia, an Italian who maintained he had removed the painting because he felt it rightfully belonged in Italy, was jailed for just over a year.

But it's not only the French who have been targeted. In 2004, two of the most famous works by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch were stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo. In the daylight robbery, several masked gunmen escaped with Madonna and Scream. This was the second time Scream had been stolen, the first being in 1994 when four men made off with the Norwegian National Gallery's version (Munch painted several versions of the image). The National Gallery copy was recovered, undamaged, two months later, while the two paintings stolen in 2004 were found after almost exactly two years.

Both paintings had been damaged, but were back on display in 2008 after being restored to almost their original state. Luckily for the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam, there was no such wait to recover its stolen paintings, after a raid in 1990 in which two men made off with 20 paintings - each worth Dh735m. The paintings were found in the getaway car just a few hours later; leading investigators to believe the culprits had decided the stolen goods were not worth the bother of trying to sell off.

Unfortunately, not all art robberies have resulted in quite such happy endings. In the early hours of March 18, 1990 - a few months before the robbery at the Van Gogh Museum - two men in police uniforms and fake moustaches made their way to the main entrance of Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, claiming they were investigating a disturbance. The guards on duty let them in, only realising their mistake when it was too late. The thieves tied them up and made off with 13 items.

Among the items taken were three paintings by Rembrandt, a Vermeer, a Govaert Flinck and a Manet, a Chinese beaker, five sketches by Degas and a bronze Napoleonic eagle. It was also reported that the paintings had been crudely torn from their frames - vastly diminishing their value. Unfortunately, the paintings have yet to be recovered, and may have been sold to collectors who mistakenly believe them to be copies.

As for the latest robbery, the Musée d'Art Moderne has been cordoned off since the incident to allow investigators to look into how the security system was breached - although museum officials have already admitted that the alarm system had not been functioning properly for weeks.

Brief scores:

Juventus 3

Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'

Frosinone 0

The five stages of early child’s play

From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:

1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.

2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.

3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.

4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.

5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.

The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net

MATCH INFO

Liverpool 0

Stoke City 0

Man of the Match: Erik Pieters (Stoke)

What to watch out for:

Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways

The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof

The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history

Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure

Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used

Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Colomba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe
Gordon Corera, Harper Collins

Bridgerton%20season%20three%20-%20part%20one
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nicola%20Coughlan%2C%20Luke%20Newton%2C%20Jonathan%20Bailey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)

Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg

Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

MATCH INFO

Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')

Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)

Wydad 2 Urawa 3

Wydad Nahiri 21’, Hajhouj 90'

Urawa Antonio 18’, 60’, Kashiwagi 26’

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.