The Munch Museum in Oslo, which was robbed of its world-famous painting The Scream in a daring heist last year, has defended a new board game inspired by the theft amid criticism from the art world.
"Some people think it's horrible to treat the matter as a game but we see things totally differently. It's a completely innocent game," museum spokeswoman Jorunn Christoffersen said.
The game, "The Mystery of The Scream", has been created by the Aschehoug publishing house and went on sale last week, including at the Munch Museum's gift shop.
In a dramatic robbery in August 2004, two armed and hooded thieves burst into the Munch Museum in Oslo and threatened a member of staff with a gun as stunned tourists looked on.
Grabbing The Scream and Madonna off the walls, the robbers fled the scene in a stolen car driven by an accomplice.
The paintings, which are believed to be worth as much as $A133 million, are still missing.
"In principle I find it a bit in bad taste to make a game out of the theft of The Scream," Kaare Berntsen, the artistic director of the Kaare Berntsen Gallery in Oslo, said.
"My initial reaction is to disapprove of an initiative that helps trivialise a national and international drama while the painting is still missing."
The game targets children over the age of six, and participants play the roles of either detectives or robbers.
Aschehoug says the game is educational.
"In addition to The Scream, the game has 36 cards featuring different artworks that the children know," the head of Aschehoug's games division Magnus Skrede said.
"It's a fun way for them to learn about the diversity of artistic creativity."
from the abc
2 The scream, 1893, and Madonna, 1893-94, both by Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
Tempera on board, 84 x 66 cm, and oil on canvas, 90 x 69 cm.
Stolen from the Munch Museum, Oslo, on 22 August 2004.
The Munch theft took place at 11.15am, fifteen minutes after the gallery (in the eastern suburbs of Oslo) had opened to the public. One of the thieves was armed with a gun, and he threatened guards just inside the entrance. His accomplice rushed through the fairly small museum to pull down the two paintings, which were hanging on wires. Although there were visitors in the galleries, they were terrified and unable to act. The thieves sprinted to a waiting car, which was abandoned a mile away. Police did not arrive at the museum until fifteen minutes after the theft.
The value of the two paintings is about 65 million [pounds sterling], according to Interpol, citing the Norwegian authorities--a figure which does nor seem to have been picked up by the international press. Parts of the frames were found near the abandoned getaway car; suggesting that the fragile tempera-on-board version of The scream was in a vulnerable state. As we went to press no reward had been posted, although one may well be.
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Stealing an iconic work of art is one type of crime that virtually never pays. Seizing a masterpiece from a gallery is one thing, but realising its value is a very much more difficult challenge. Most criminals understand this, so the theft of great works of art is relatively rare, considering the many thousands that are on public view in museums and galleries across the world.
why steal a masterpiece? from apollo
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