Stolen Van Gogh works back on display after 17 years

Two of Vincent van Gogh works are back on public display 17 years after they were stolen.

The pieces, View of the Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, were stolen from the Van Gogh museum on a December night in 2002.

In a move that The Guardian says “brings the story of one of most infamous postwar art heists to a close,” the paintings were returned to public viewing yesterday.

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Back in 2002, two thieves - Octave Durham and Henk Bieslijn - climbed on to the roof of the museum using a stolen ladder and broke a window with a sledgehammer.

Having gained entry into the museum, they lifted the two works from a wall. Although a security guard spotted the theft, she was not permitted to use force to stop them.

During his escape, Durham slid down a rope but hit the ground at such speed that he tore a 7cm by 2cm piece from the bottom left-hand corner of the seascape painting.

It was not until 2016 that the works, painted between 1882 and 1885, were finally recovered in Italy. They have spent the last two years in the museum’s conservation studio being restored.

A scanning technique was used by experts to fix the ripped corner of one piece. It allowed them to a measure the thickness of the surrounding paint and the contours of the missing piece.

Using a photograph of the work made before the theft, restorers could determine the relief of the surface, and refashion it in a 3D-printed mould.

Although the other work - Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen - was hardly damaged, a varnish added during a previous restoration was removed because it was yellowing. Both paintings have new frames.

Durham, who served a 25-month sentence for the robbery, said the raid had taken “about three minutes 40 seconds”.

He added: “That’s the eye of a burglar. Some people are born teachers. Some people are born footballers. I’m a born burglar.”