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Paintings stolen from gallery
27/04/2003 22:07 - (SA)
England - Paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and Gaugin have been stolen in a raid on one of Britain's leading art galleries, police said on Sunday.
The works were taken from Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery some time between late Saturday evening and noon the next day, when the gallery re-opened.
"This was a well planned theft and we have launched a major inquiry," said a Greater Manchester Police spokesperson.
"We are now trying to piece together what has happened."
Among the pictures taken was Vincent Van Gogh's 1878 watercolour The Fortifications of Paris with Houses, police said.
The thieves also made off with Pablo Picasso's Poverty, a pen and watercolour work from 1903 and Paul Gaugin's Tahitian Landscape, an oil painting from 1899.
No information was given as to how much the pictures might be worth.
The Whitworth, located in the centre of Manchester, has a collection of around 40 000 works of art.
In all, its catalogue includes 12 Picassos and two pieces by Van Gogh.
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