The real Indiana Jones exists. And he just recovered a van Gogh painting worth millions of dollars

After three years, the painting stolen in 2020 will be returned to its place in the Dutch museum. It was recovered by Arthur Brand, an art detective. The man has, among others, finding paintings by Dalí, Picasso or Hitler’s beloved sculpture.

Now the list of successes will include the recovery of a painting by Vincent van Gogh, stolen three years ago. Although the police managed to track down the thief quite quickly, the painting itself was lost. That’s when Arthur Brand stepped in.

Theft of a painting by Vincent van Gogh from a Dutch museum

The daring theft was committed in the middle of a pandemic. “Spring Garden”, painted in 1884, disappeared from the Singer Laren museum in Amsterdam, where it was on loan from the museum in Groninger. In the middle of the night from March 29 to 30, the thief broke the glass in the door with a hammer. He got inside and took only one thing with him under his arm – this particular painting by van Gogh.

A year later, a Dutch court sentenced a thief caught by the police – a 59-year-old man was involved in yet other thefts of works of art. But the stolen painting has not been found – until now. Arthur Brand was involved in the search from the beginning. The man does not reveal his methods, but it is known under what circumstances he regained the “Spring Garden”.

Van Gogh’s “Spring Garden” recovered

In his work, Arthur Brand relies mainly on knowing the right people who know the next right people. As he claimed in an interview with “”, in the last two years, van Gogh’s “Spring Garden” has become a real “hot potato” for thieves and lovers of illegally obtained art. After the thief was arrested, the painting could no longer be sold to anyone and it ceased to have any value to the thief.

We knew that the painting was changing hands in the underworld, but no one wanted to keep it because it was no longer worth anything. He could only cause trouble, he became cursed – said Brand.

And so, last Monday, an anonymous informant knocked on the door of Arthur Brand’s Amsterdam apartment with a large bag from Ikea in his hand. Inside, the detective found a stolen painting wrapped in bubble wrap. The supplier claimed he was giving away the image and just wanted anonymity and “no hassle.” A video of unpacking the valuable contents of the bag was published on .

According to Brand, similar situations sometimes occur. He himself is known in the community and in a similar way, sitting safely in his own home, he has already “recovered” several works of art. He claims that the mysterious multimillionaires who keep works of art in their basements do not exist and that the paintings are not stolen, but “kidnapped”:

Thieves actually never want to keep such a painting for themselves. Mysterious collectors who hide paintings in basements or bunkers do not exist because we want to boast about art, not hide it. The thief most often wants to extort money from compensation or would ultimately like to obtain a more favorable verdict in court – says Brand.

“Spring Garden” has suffered slightly in the last three years. Arthur Brand enjoyed it in his living room for a few hours and then contacted the rightful owners. The painting will soon return to the museum in Groninger.