The Work of an Expert

A razor is the best tool to use for stealing paintings. It is fast, noiseless, and may also be used as a weapon if necessary. Swiftly, silently, one December evening, an adept Buenos Aires thief went to work in the Argentine National Museum of Fine Arts. He chose a small (20 by 33 in.), valuable ($40,000) painting, Berge de Lavacourt by French Impressionism's founder, Claude Monet. There was only one guard on duty in the gallery, and he was twice called to the telephone that evening.

It was unquestionably the work of an expert: the tricky job of slitting the canvas was notably clean; two more valuable paintings (Cezanne's Bread and Eggs and Edouard Manet's Nymph Surprised) hung beside the stolen Monet--but to an initiate, these would be recognized as unsaleable. Not so Berge (Embankment). This exquisite, frosty scene of the Seine River bank near the Norman village of Vetheuil, where Monet often painted, has been in Buenos Aires since 1912, is comparatively little known elsewhere. Because no complete, official catalogue of Monet's work exists, the painting might well be disposed of outside Argentina--under a different title, even as a genuine Monet.

One finespun theory making the rounds of Buenos Aires last week was that the Monet-snatcher had no intention of trying to dispose of the picture--he was just settling an old score with the National Museum's Director Augusto da Rocha. A tightfisted administrator (he slashed the museum's staff) and no patron of the local art mart, politically rightist da Rocha has long been at odds with most Argentine artists, who are largely left-of-liberal. The expertly executed theft might prove embarrassing enough to cost him his job.

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