Chapter 540: Top Art Thieves

The filming continued and Ye Tian's brief explanation and precise identification continued.

"This is one of Van Gogh's masterpieces from the famous Dutch painter and pioneer of post-impressionism in the 19th century, "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen".

In 2000, this famous painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and another Van Gogh painting, "Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather" was also stolen.

That famous painting is also here, you will see it later! These two famous paintings were estimated at £25 million at the time, but that was only the lowest estimate given by the museum and did not meet the market value!

Over the past ten years or so, their value has already doubled several times, even ten times! In the current art market, the price of these two famous paintings should be more than 100 million US dollars!

Soon after the theft, the two suspects were arrested by the police, but the two famous paintings have disappeared. There has been no news for more than ten years and they seem to have completely disappeared!

But who would have thought that they were smuggled to the United States and hidden here, it is incredible! Obviously, today is a lucky day for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam!

Now that they have been discovered, I believe they will soon appear in front of the public. It will not be long before everyone will be able to appreciate the artistic charm of these two top oil paintings again in the museum!"

After introducing the two works of Van Gogh, Ye Tian pointed his mobile phone camera at another famous painting.

"This is a masterpiece, "Portrait of Medici" by Rubens, an outstanding representative of Baroque art and a Flemish painter in the seventeenth century.

In 2008, this famous painting was stolen from a private museum in Denmark. At the same time, the famous Spanish romantic painter, Goya's masterpiece, "The Madman" was also stolen.

Like the other top famous paintings highlighted before, these two paintings can be called world-class masterpieces, with very high artistic value and market value,..."

In a blink of an eye, another top famous painting appeared on the phone screen.

Ye Tian's professional explanation and appraisal will immediately follow!

"I believe many people know the painting in front of you. This is the famous Spanish cubist painter, founder of modern art and Picasso's "Le pigeon aux petits pois".

This famous painting was stolen in the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris in 2010. According to legend, this famous painting has been completely destroyed. I did not expect to see it here. I was so lucky!

It can be seen from the video image that this famous painting is in good condition and no trace of restoration can be seen. It can be seen that the rumor is just a smoke bomb released by the art robber! ..."

"What appears in front of everyone at this moment is an abstract expressionist painting, from the soul of abstract expressionism, Willem de Kooning, this is one of his representative works!

This is a stolen painting that was stolen at the Art Museum of Chicago in 2009. At the same time, there are several famous impressionist paintings that was stolen in the same time. It is a pity that I did not see those famous paintings! ..."

After abstract expressionism, another artistic style of painting appeared on the phone screen immediately!

After a short pause, Ye Tian's voice immediately sounded again!

"This is one of the representative works of Modigliani, a famous painter of the Paris School, known as the 'Prince of Montparnasse', "Woman with a Fan".

Like "Le pigeon aux petits pois", this famous painting was also stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris and actually appeared here. It seems that the art thieves are very fond of this museum in Paris.

You may remember that not long ago, Sotheby's New York took another famous painting by Modigliani, "Nu couché".

These two paintings are both at the peak of Modigliani's works, regardless of the same number and the creation time is very close, even the model is the same woman, Modigliani's lover.

At the Sotheby's auction in New York, the "Nu couché" was sold at a sky-high price of 170 million U.S. dollars, so how much is this painting worth? You can imagine it!

Time flies quickly, an hour in the blink of an eye.

Speaking of his dry mouth and throat smoking, Ye Tian had no choice but to stop, ready to rest for a while and then continue to film!

At this time, he only shot less than half and there are still many antique artworks in the warehouse waiting to be filmed!

This is the result of deliberately speeding up the filming speed!

For some of the paintings of average popularity and not very high value, as well as all the prints, sketches, etc., he just briefly introduces whose works and then walks through them, in order to save time as much as possible!

If he don't do this and each antique artwork is introduced in detail, he is afraid that even a third of it will not be finished!

Even so, the filming speed is still too slow, making Ye Tian a little anxious!

The longer he stay here, the more dangerous it is and the higher the chance of being spotted by Thompson's old guy.

Surveillance video is one aspect and the consumption of portable generators and batteries is also a problem. If the power consumption increases too much, the old guy may become suspicious.

There are air conditioners and humidifiers that operate 24 hours a day and they consume electricity all the time. As long as the increase in electricity consumption is controlled within a reasonable range, it should not be difficult to get through!

In addition, if the filming time is too long, the phone battery may not be able to support it.

Ye Tian raised his hand to check the time and then quickly made a decision.

In the next filming, if it is not a very important artwork, try to be as concise as possible, only introduce the name, the author and give the appraisal conclusion and nothing else!

This will definitely increase the speed a lot and complete the shooting as soon as possible.

There is a lighted room next door. It is not yet known whether it is a warehouse where the artworks are hidden or a private studio.

In addition, set aside a little time for perspective and search for other hidden tunnels!

If he find it, maybe he have to go in and explore it.

While resting, Ye Tian was also admiring the many top antique artworks in front of him, with an intoxicated expression on his face!

In his heart, he secretly sighed with emotion!

This old guy Thompson is really too big! It is definitely one of the biggest and craziest international art thieves in the world!

Once the many antique artworks in this warehouse are released, they will surely make a sensation in the world and shock the entire antique art collection field!

And Thompson, this old guy, will instantly become a celebrity, notorious! What he has done in the past 30 years is enough to make everyone stunned!

In the field of art crime, there are not many guys crazier than him, he is definitely rare!

The last such crazy art thief should be Frenchman Stéphane Breitwieser.

That guy stole 239 works of art and other exhibits from 172 museums in Europe in six years, stolen once every fifteen days, very crazy!

It wasn't until 2001 that he was caught during the theft at the Richard Wagner Museum in Switzerland. The most efficient art thief in history ended his legendary art theft career!

Since then, there has never been such a crazy art thieves!

But who could have imagined that such a top art thief was hidden in Boston and it was hidden so deeply that it hadn't revealed any flaws for thirty years!

In this regard, Thompson is obviously much better than Breitwieser and can throw that guy out of eight streets!

In addition, there are some differences between these two top art thieves.

Breitwieser is very passionate about art and wants to own the works of art he likes, so he went to major European museums to steal!

He called himself an art connoisseur and loved the works of masters from the 16th to the 17th century. The main target of theft was the famous artworks of this period.

The results of the police investigation later proved that what he said was true.

He keeps all the stolen famous paintings at home and enjoys it alone! For every famous painting that he stolen, he is a treasurer and his appreciation level is no worse than that of art appraisal experts!

Breitwieser usually spends a lot of time with his "collection" and has never thought of selling it for profit. He even burns down the forgeries he has identified in order to maintain the purity of art!

Thompson is on the contrary. He steals top antique artworks, not because of his love for art, all purpose is for money, simple and rude!

In this regard, his realm is much worse than Breitwieser and he has been dumped more than eight streets!

In the way of doing things, the two styles are also very different, far from each other!

Breitwieser likes to do it by himself, all antique art is stolen by himself and he can be regarded as a top art thief with bold art!

Thompson is on the contrary. Except for the Gardner Museum, he will not participate other art thefts in person, but hides and directs in the dark. It can be said to be very cunning, an old fox!

From the top antique art stolen from all over the world in this warehouse, Ye Tian roughly guessed the old guy's modus operandi.

He must often browse the websites of major museums and pay close attention to the trends in the field of antique art collection to obtain useful information from them and then choose the target of the crime!

Once the target antique artwork is determined, they will entrust professional art thieves active all over the world to steal the fancy target and then send it to him.

This modus operandi is very safe, as long as he are a little careful, he will basically not show his feet.

During the whole theft process, the price they need to pay is extremely low!

In Europe, the commission cost for the theft of a top art artwork is no more than 100,000 euros! This is the price of the most skillful thief, the others are even lower!

Once these artworks enter Thompson's hands, they must be silent for a while. After the theft case is basically calm, they will take the stolen artworks on the black market and sell them for profit!

At that time, what they get is not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but tens of millions of dollars in profits, absolutely a huge profit!

The quiet period is generally seven or eight years. In the process, the prices of these stolen top antique artworks are also soaring, which is the best of both worlds!

Throughout the process, Thompson should be the person responsible for determining the target of the theft, forgery, expropriation and hiding in the dark to command. His pastor status is undoubtedly the best cover!

Andrew's responsibilities are to issue orders, receive goods, transport, etc., while middlemen like Tillerson do some peripheral chores and they are also scapegoats that can be thrown out at any time!

Their entire team has a very clear division of labor and they act carefully and seamlessly.

In addition to entrusting clever art thieves to steal directly, Thompson and the others are probably also black market buyers, buying stolen top art at low prices on the black market.

After many art thieves succeed, they will dispose of the stolen goods as quickly as possible, so as not to be targeted by the police.

In this case, the prices of those stolen antique artworks are extremely low, most of which are only 5% to 10% of the actual value!

For the cousins Thompsons, who are not short of money, how can they miss this opportunity?

They will definitely buy stolen antique artworks on the black market and then ship them to the United States for sale! Make a fortune!

Thinking of this, Ye Tian couldn't help but give Thompson a thumbs up again!

What a cunning old man!

Then, he raised his hand to check the time and then walked to the next famous painting.