What is it about this painting that inspires thievery?
I'm having a hard time understanding this one.
People have stolen versions of this painting not once, but twice. My question is...why?
What? Are these thieves into existential angst nowadays? Do they find
this painting interesting? Is it just because it's relatively famous,
but not in a "yet another Monet" sort of way? What is it, exactly, that
makes this painting worth stealing?
Twice. Most recently at gunpoint. In a country that's supposedly great
with gun control.
"The Scream" is an interesting painting. I'll give it that much,
despite the fact the guy doing the primordial screaming reminds me a
wee bit too much of Mr. Bill from "Saturday Night Live." While it's not
my favorite, it does what all good art is supposed to do: pull
something out of you. Whatever pain the guy is howling at, you can
relate to it, it resonates with the individual, whether they might be
cultured or casual, and it makes them think. The wierd sky dictates
that, yes indeedy, the world does look strange when you're in pain.
It's a good piece of work. And that's fine. I may get the Mr. Bill vibe
whenever I see this painting, but other people might really like it.
Given the number of times I saw posters of this particular piece of
work hanging on dorm room walls in college, logic dictates it must be
popular with some people. But to like it enough to steal it? Because someone had
to like this painting to want to steal it because of what happened last
time. Money isn't the motive here. (Unless they were a pack of dolts
who hadn't read a newspaper in the past ten years, which, I suppose is
always possible.) It can't possibly be. That someone would like this
painting enough to risk stealing it is the only reason I can come up
with for the taking of such a prominent piece of work. Did they steal
it for some collector, who's been greedily rubbing his hands together
while whispering, "oh, yes, you will be mine, my pretty," for
years and will now hang it on the wall of his impenetrable vault? Or,
romanticism aside, is it like the guy at Scotland Yard said and that
the thieves were looking for a trophy and now have no idea what the
hell to do with it? I don't know. Hmmmm. But it's fun to speculate, no?