
A Picasso painting was stolen from a Melbourne gallery (1986) - astdb
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-14/retrofocus-picasso-weeping-woman-famous-unsolved-art-heist/11498936
======
hilbert42
I well remember the _Weeping Woman_ incident as around that time I'd heard
Patrick McCaughey's voice on a recorded tour tape and I'd thought he'd done an
excellent job at describing the tour and artworks.

What I still find amazing is how anyone could just seeming walk out of the
gallery with the work without actually being noticed, but then the National
Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne wasn't the only one whose security could do
with a boost.

I recall being in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam some decades ago and being able
to come with just several feet of Vermeer's _The Milk Maid_ —close enough to
examine it in fine detail and even photograph it. On the same visit, I turned
a corner into a sort of alcove only to 'confront' a Rembrandt self-portrait
hanging on a wall by itself. In both instances I was the only visitor there
viewing the works at the time and the guards, whilst present, were a
considerable distance away (and with the self-portrait the only guard in the
immediate vicinity was effectively in the next room).

This was one of great and most unforgettable experiences of my life. I
consider it a great privilege that I was allowed to view these great artworks
at my leisure without anyone breathing down my neck to see that I wasn't doing
anything untoward.

I was surprised and it wasn't lost on me at the time that I had had such easy
access to these works, especially so given that Rembrandt's _The Night Watch_
had only recently gone back on display after having been restored, it having
been slashed by a madman some years earlier.

I suppose this is the dilemma faced by all gallery directors—overprotect the
works and people cannot fully appreciate them or to make them more accessible
and then risk possible damage to them. This dilemma was never clearer to me
than when I was visiting the Louvre: the _Mona Lisa_ was behind glass with
hordes of Japanese tours hovering around it all clamoring for a view,
essentially I could see nothing interesting, a photo of it in an art book was
much clearer.

I left the area immediately and went back to different part of the Louvre to
see another great work—one of my favorites—Caravaggio's _The Fortune Teller_ ,
here too I could appreciate the work close up and in detail without hordes
surrounding me.

