Three paintings by Edvard Munch were stolen from a hotel in Norway on March 6, 2005, including Blue Dress, and were recovered the next day. The theft came less than seven months after the armed daytime robbery of The Scream and Madonna from the Munch Museum in Oslo, so even a smaller hotel theft fed a broader public narrative about the vulnerability of Munch's legacy. Unlike the still-unresolved or long-running cases that dominate art-crime history, this episode was brief, but it underscored how dispersed institutional and semi-public holdings of nationally treasured artists can be exposed outside purpose-built museum security systems.
The incident sharpened attention on security for Munch works beyond major museum walls.
Artists involved
