In less than five minutes, burglars stole six paintings at VDL Art in Eindhoven on Tuesday evening around eight o’clock. The works are worth in total between fifty and sixty thousand euros. It concerns a painting by the Eindhoven artist Kees Bol and five paintings by the Eindhoven artist Cornelis le Mair.
The emotions run high with gallery owner Jan van de Loo and his employee when they talk about the robbery. Tears flow. Jan shows the back door that has been forced by the burglars. How they got in so quickly is a mystery to Jan: “I have no idea, I’m not a burglar.”
Around half past nine on Wednesday morning, Jan enters his gallery. “I turn on the light, look and think; Jesus everything is gone! I immediately called my co-worker Danielle in the hope that things might have moved. We are working here almost every evening but because of the beautiful weather I was one “Don’t turn up. My employee left around half past five. A little later the burglars came. That can be seen on surveillance images.”
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“They have only been in for four minutes. Six paintings gone in four minutes,” Jan says in surprise. “That’s all on video and the police are investigating those images.” The thieves’ car must have been filmed, Jan thinks there is no other way.
According to him, the thieves were well prepared. They came in very quickly. Jan has been involved in art since he was 21. “I’ve had large, open stores, including in the Piazza Center shopping center. I’ve never had anything stolen, this is the first time.”
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Jan and his employee are completely upset by the robbery: “I don’t think we are insured, that’s the problem. And the paintings are not ours, we had them on loan”. A little luck is the fact that there are no certificates of authenticity. Without those certificates, those things aren’t worth a cent. They stole something that is of no use to them. They can’t put it on Marktplaats either.”
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Dismayed, Jan looks at the white wall where the paintings hung: “It’s terrible, the whole week has been ruined, that makes you unhappy.” How to proceed now? He can’t answer that right now. The gallery owner is briefly overcome with emotions when he sees the bare wall. And then he still has a glimmer of hope: “I hope they bring the paintings back.”
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