Armed Men Snatch Munch's 'Scream' and 'Madonna'

OSLO - In a dramatic daytime raid, two masked robbers forced an employee at the Munch Museum to take down a version of "The Scream" and another important work, "Madonna," at gunpoint. They escaped from the scene in a car driven by a third man.

The pictures, worth millions of dollars, were cut from their frames which were found discarded and broken later in another part of the city.

"A female employee of the museum was threatened with a handgun and forced to take down two pictures," said police spokeswoman Hilde Walsoe. "They took two paintings, 'The Scream' and 'Madonna.' "

'The Scream' is regarded by many as Munch's most important work and an icon of existentialist angst.

"No one has been physically injured, and the suspects escaped in an Audi A6. We are searching for the suspects with all available means," Walsoe told The Associated Press. “We found the escape car, and we have found many pieces of the frames."

Police cordoned off the area, informed Interpol and alerted airports and border crossings in the hunt to track down the thieves who snatched the Munch masterpieces, Reuters reported. A helicopter hovered around the area in search of clues to the getaway.

Many museum visitors panicked and thought they were being attacked by terrorists.

"He was wearing a black face mask and something that looked like a gun to force a female security guard down on the floor," visitor Marketa Cajova told NTB public radio.

"What's strange is that in this museum, there weren't any means of protection for the paintings, no alarm bell," Castang told France Inter radio.

"The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls," he said. "All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose, which is what I saw one of the thieves doing."

Castang said police arrived on the scene 15 minutes later. Visitors were ushered into the museum's cafeteria.

"We don't have all the details on the situation, but we are searching for the suspects in the air and on land," Police Spokesman Kjell Moerk told the public radio network NRK.

Art experts said Munch produced four versions of "The Scream." The stolen version consists of tempera and pastel on board.

It was the second time in 10 years that "The Scream" has been stolen. Another, and perhaps better-known version, of the painting was taken from Norway's National Gallery in a break-in in February 1994, on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

A $1 million ransom was refused by the government, but the picture, which is on fragile paper, was retrieved undamaged nearly three months later and remains in that gallery. Three Norwegians were arrested.

The other two versions are in storage at the Munch Museum.

Munch, who lived from 1863 to 1944 and who was a founder of modern expressionism, made several copies of his key works, including "The Scream." He painted the work in 1893, as part of his "Frieze of Life" series, in which sickness, death, anxiety and love are central themes.

In the foreground of the picture, on a road with railings, is a figure hands raised to his head, eyes staring, mouth agape. Further back are two men in top hats and behind them a landscape of fjord and hills in wavy lines against a deep red sunset.

The stolen “Madonna” was painted in 1893-1894, depicting an eroticized madonna with a blood-red halo in a dark, swirling aura. Munch later produced woodcut lithographs with a similar depiction.

The National Art Museum owns 58 paintings by Munch.