8 Stolen—Then Recovered

Even if you don’t follow the fine art world, you’re probably familiar with The Scream, Edvard Munch’s slightly horrifying work that he first released in 1893. He’d go on to release three other versions. But what you probably don’t know is that M&Ms were used to get the composition back when it was stolen. For the second-ish time.

On February 12, 1994, the same day as the opening ceremonies for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, two men entered the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway, and made off with The Scream. At the time, the painting was valued at a staggering $55 million. The thieves were brazen, leaving a handwritten note behind that said, “Thanks for the bad security!” Indeed, there was one security guard on duty, but he simply ignored the sound of the alarm, so it was a fair criticism from the burglars.

Norwegian police worked with Scotland Yard, who dispatched two officers to work as undercover art experts, including art crimes detective Charles Hill. They managed to make contact with a go-between who knew the thieves. Enticed by a reward, the thieves revealed themselves as well as the location of the art.

But in 2004, it happened again. A different version of the painting done by Munch in 1910 and displayed at the Munch Museum in Oslo was stolen by armed thieves. They also managed to swipe another Munch original titled Madonna. While some of the criminals were convicted in 2006, the art remained missing. At that point, candy company Mars offered up a reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms as part of a promotional stunt. In case you’re wondering, that’s about 40,000 bags. Just days later, a convicted criminal tipped police off to the painting’s whereabouts. While this was probably just a coincidence, he still demanded the M&Ms. But it seems Mars ended up donating the cash value of the chocolates to the museum instead.

It’s estimated as little as 1.5 percent of stolen art is ever found. But on this episode of The List Show, Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy is taking a look at some very famous and very valuable paintings that were taken but subsequently recovered, from John Opie’s The Schoolmistress to Van Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen.

Watch the full episode above, and don’t forget to subscribe to Mental Floss on YouTube for fun and fascinating videos every week.

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