Referenced countlessly in pop culture (as in the holiday classic Home Alone) and reproduced by artists like Andy Warhol to second-grade art classes, most of us are familiar with Edvard Munch’s expressionist masterpiece, The Scream. Not as widely publicized, however, are the thefts of The Scream which occurred in 1994 and 2004, when two different copies of the painting were stolen: the first from the National Gallery, Oslo, the second from the Munch Museum, also in Oslo. Using the thefts of The Scream as a case study, my research aims to provide some answers to questions concerning what occurs during an art crime investigation and how art theft contributes to the overall value of a piece.

   Working under the advisory of Professor Andrew McClellan, my Laidlaw summer research goes in-depth on several aspects of art theft to ultimately gain a better understanding of why these paintings were stolen and how they were stolen, paying particular attention to how The Scream was ultimately found and what those investigations may have looked like.

   I am personally drawn to The Scream for its use of bold colors, broad brush strokes, and the emotions of anxiety and awe that it can simultaneously convey. The painting expertly depicts the emotions of nature, rather than a realistic form of the world around. The thefts of The Scream, while lesser known than the painting itself, are still a highly researched topic. A main aspect of my own research thus revolves around compiling existing media on the thefts into one introductory document. I will also be conducting interviews with criminal intelligence and art world professionals to gain a better understanding of how theft contributes to the value of artwork. 

   I hope that through my research I will be able to compile existing information along with new perspectives into a singular document and provide readers with a case study that sheds light on the world of art crime, serving as both an introductory and informational document. The area of art crime is not a widely publicized topic, but my research will help to pull back the curtain, revealing what is occurring in the process of an art investigation along with shedding light on how theft contributes to the provenance of a piece, like The Scream, adding to its story, value, and significance. My work will provide a small piece to the puzzle of why humanity values art and authenticity.