“Amateurish” thieves have made off with a screen print of Queen Elizabeth II by Andy Warhol as part of a botched gallery heist in the Netherlands.
The thieves blew open the gallery doors, stealing two works from the iconic American pop artist, the gallery’s owner Mark Peet Visser said.
Another two prints were left badly damaged in the street after the thieves discovered they wouldn’t fit in the getaway car, he added.
The heist was captured on security cameras, Mr Visser said, describing the whole thing as “amateurish”.
The gallery owner said “the bomb attack was so violent that my entire building was destroyed” and nearby stores were also damaged.
Thieves also seized a screen print depicting Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. File pic: AP
“So they did that part of it well, too well actually,” he added.
“And then they ran to the car with the prints and it turns out that they won’t fit in the car.
“At that moment the works are ripped out of the frames and you also know that they are damaged beyond repair, because it is impossible to get them out undamaged.”
The thieves struck the MPV Gallery in the Dutch town of Oisterwijk early on Friday.
Mr Visser said they were attempting to steal four works from a 1985 Warhol series called Reigning Queens.
The series featured portraits of the then queens of the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Swaziland, which is now called Eswatini.
The thieves got away with the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Margrethe II of Denmark, Mr Visser said.
But the prints of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntombi Tfwala, who is now known as the queen mother of Eswatini, were abandoned.
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Mr Visser has not put a value on the signed and numbered works, which were due to go on sale as part of an art fair later this month.
Forensic experts have scoured the badly damaged gallery and Dutch police are appealing for witnesses.
