the norwegian job

i guess movies like the italian job and the thomas crown affair are cool and sh*t, you know...steve mcqueen and michael caine (you didn't really think that i was talking about that marky mark & pierce brosnan drivle, did you?) stealing priceless works of art and getting some sweet bird on the side. that being said, movies are movies and in the real world art should remain in public where people can learn from it and appreciate it. one of contemporary art's most iconic works, edvard munch's "the scream", as well as "madonna" (a personal favorite) were returned to the munch museum in oslo, norway some two years after being lifted by masked thieves in plain day.

Two stolen Edvard Munch masterpieces are recovered in Norway

having spent a good time admiring munch's work (mfd 2/06), i can say that "the scream" to be my favorite work by the artist, but one can not deny the cultural significance of a painting that has been absorbed into the popular culture to the degree that munch's work has. if you ever have the chance, i would strongly encourage experiencing munch's oeuvre as he was a profoundly troubled and emotional man who used art to explain and rationalize much of what he felt (which was considerable).