Thieves executed a daring heist at MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, blowing off the doors to steal two screenprints from Andy Warhol’s acclaimed “Reigning Queens” series. The targeted prints included depictions of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
According to German publication Monopol, the stolen artworks may have sustained significant damage, as the thieves broke them out of their frames. Mark Peet Visser, owner of MPV Gallery, noted the theft disrupted a rare, unified series, all marked with identical numbering.
The surveillance footage reveals the thieves initially attempted to take all four prints from the series, but their vehicle couldn’t accommodate the entire set. The prints of Dutch Queen Beatrix and Queen Ntfombi Twala of Swaziland were left behind as they fled the scene.
Valued as an extraordinary series, Warhol’s “Reigning Queens” artworks have fetched high prices at past auctions. For example, Warhol’s Queen Elizabeth II print, part of a Royal Edition sold in 2022, exceeded $856,000 at Toronto’s Heffel Fine Art Auction House. Similarly, a Queen Beatrix print auctioned in The Hague in 2021 sold for over $235,000.
The stolen works were intended for sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair later this month. This latest theft raises concerns over the security of high-value artworks in galleries, with authorities urging the public for any tips on the crime. MPV Gallery and the local police continue to investigate, hoping to recover the iconic prints intact.