Art theft is always a controversial note for the media; it is not only their value as an economic good that frustrates, but cultural properties, even when they are in private hands, are perceived as an object of society. They are mostly created for the enjoyment of the general public and their theft represents a loss for everyone, not just the legitimate owners. But when we talk about works with values exceeding millions of dollars, the idea of stealing a piece could be tempting.

And although it may be thought that art theft is a “smart” decision, worthy of Hollywood stories in which thieves walk away with a painted piece of fabric worth millions of dollars, the truth is that it is often a foolish decision that it will hardly be profitable. And once the criminals realize their mistake, sometimes a curious phenomenon occurs that does not usually happen with other types of valuable goods: they end up “returning” the stolen work, as is the case of the abandoned car that was found with works by Van Gogh, or the portrait of Klimt that appeared on the wall of a museum.

What cases have there been?

The “boomerang effects” in art theft are not an everyday occurrence, but there have been several and each one has had its own particularities. Some of the most notable ones that can be commented are:

• In 2019, a female portrait of Gustav Klimt was found on a wall in the same Italian museum from which it was stolen 23 years earlier.
  
• In 2012, a Dalí work was returned anonymously to a gallery in New York via a courier service, weeks after it was stolen. The only thing that could be discovered is that the shipment came from Greece.
  
• In 2011, a Rembrandt drawing stolen from a luxury hotel in Los Angeles turned up days later in a church on the outskirts of the city.
  
• In 2003, 3 paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin were stolen from the Whitworth Art Gallery in London. They appeared 3 days later in a public bathroom with a message: “To highlight the unfortunate security.”
  
• In 2003, the work “Three Characters” (1970) by Rufino Tamayo was found in a pile of garbage in New York. The work had been missing for 20 years.
  

Why it happens?

Many times these types of “returns” occur, first, because the theft of the work of art was not the main objective. Perhaps in the process of accessing a safe, taking cash or taking high-value jewelry, the criminal sees fit to also take a work of art with the possibility of selling it. It is also attributed to the fact that this illicit activity could be promoted with the erroneous ideas spread by some Hollywood films. However, in art there are obstacles that prevent a sale of stolen art from being equally or more profitable than selling it in the “legal market”, such as:

1. Authenticity and provenance

For a work to retain its value, it is very important to have certificates of its origin and authenticity, which can only be granted by the artist himself, or galleries, museums and institutes that have had some direct contact with the artist, or that they have art experts who can confirm its value at the time of sale. Likewise, if it is sold through auction houses, they usually keep a record of who bought and who sold the work. When a work is of dubious origin (regardless of whether it has been stolen or not) its chances of selling for a significant amount are reduced.

2. Limited market

Finding a buyer for stolen art is very difficult. Collectors with greater knowledge of the subject and willingness to buy high-value work know that a work without a certificate and that cannot be sold or exhibited (due to its illegal quality) will not bring them any commercial benefit. The works increase in value in accordance with the contact they maintain with the art market and exposure, so buying a work that cannot be shown will always be a bad investment.

Why do you decide to return the stolen art?

Moving works of art, preserving them and selling them is always a challenge even under normal circumstances due to their volume and fragility. Unlike other assets that can be easily hidden or dismantled for illicit sale, art needs to be preserved in perfect condition in order to be sold to the highest bidder. Some experts point out that this entails many complications since, if a work is the subject of an illegal act, storing it and transferring it for sale without being detected by the police could pose many risks that some criminals will not be willing to accept.

Others suggest that it could also be something simpler like guilt, as was the case with German families, institutions and museums that are currently in the process of returning art that was stolen from Jewish families by the Nazis during World War II.

If so... Why don't certain works return?

The question is valid: if it is so difficult to sell art illicitly, why does it continue to happen? And why are not all stolen works returned? These questions could have too many answers, some of which could be:

• The theft was financed by someone who did not want (or could not) pay the full price of the work.
• The work belong to a permanent collection and wasn't available for sale.
• The criminals keep the work as a form of negotiation with the authorities in case they are captured and/or prosecuted.
  
• The works could have been destroyed during or after their theft.
  
• The work was made with a material that is easy to market, like Maurizio Cattelan's golden basin stolen in 2019, of which it is believed that the thieves have already melted it to sell the gold.
  

Of course, one cannot rule out that there will always be inexplicable reasons for these types of crimes and that unfortunately they will continue to happen. But if some works have taken more than 20 years to be returned, or more than a century to be found, we can determine that it is worth maintaining the hope that they will be recovered. And if there is one thing we are sure of, it is that, in the art world, stories with strange circumstances may not be the rule... but they are not the exception either.

With information from The Art Newspaper, LA Times and The New York Times.