Singer Laren museum. Image licence
According to a report by Associated Press, the theft occurred at the Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam. The painting in question is The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 which is believed to have been stolen in the early hours of March 30.
Museum general director Evert van Os said the institution that houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer is “angry, shocked, sad” at the theft.
The painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the northern Dutch city of Groningen.
Police are investigating the theft.
The 10 x 22in (25 x 57cm) oil on paper painting shows a person standing in a garden surrounded by trees with a church tower in the background.
It is painted around the time of his more famous work The Potato Eaters when Van Gogh was painting in somber tones, before he moved to southern France, where he developed his colorful, vibrant style of painting.
AP said the thief or thieves smashed a glass door to get into the museum that set off an alarm. But when police arrived on the scene the picture and thief had gone.
