Theft of 'The Weeping Woman' from the National Gallery of Victoria | Hacker News Reader

Theft of 'The Weeping Woman' from the National Gallery of Victoria

en.wikipedia.org

75 pointsneom45 comments

> It has been suggested that the thieves knew their art history: the method of the theft was an ironic homage to the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.

In both cases, the thieves unscrewed the painting and took it. Feels a bit over the top to call it an homage, let alone an ironic one.

I think the irony is that in 1911, Picasso was accused of the theft, whereas in 1986, one of Picasso's works was stolen.

To say that is planned irony is a bit much

I think the irony today is that in 2025 the password to the security system for the Louvre's security cameras was "Louvre"

https://abcnews.go.com/International/password-louvres-video-...

In 2014.

>2014 cybersecurity audit performed by the French Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) at the museum's request

I laughed out loud at this part, perfect Aussie humour:

“Chilean Australian artist Juan Davila painted a work titled Picasso Theft and offered to donate it to the National Gallery of Victoria in place of the stolen painting. Davila wrote that "mine is a real one".[25] Davila's Picasso Theft was exhibited in the Sydney Avago Gallery, and then itself was stolen.”

> McCaughey stated that a specialised type of screwdriver, not available to the public, would have been required to take the painting off the wall.

Why bother with measures such as alarms and security cameras when you have the Super Secret Screws!

Being regularly confronted with wretched special screws, there are all kinds of ways to get them out. The usual go-to tool is one designed to unscrew stripped screw heads.

Just the other day, I was confronted with a security screw that instead of having 4 flutes on it (Phillips head), it had 3. I just drilled it out.

Nothing worse than a screw you dont have a driver for. I resolved to just have drivers for everything

https://www.ifixit.com/products/mako-driver-kit-64-precision...

After going through several brands over the years, both domestic and foreign, that's the best set of driver bits that I have ever owned.

Kinda pricey, but well worth it.

No slotted Robertson :(

It very well could have just been Torx back then. I remember opening my original 128k Mac in '85 or so to do the 512K memory upgrade, and a weird specialized screwdriver (Torx) was required to open the case.

And n64 cartridges and cases. And snes too I think. Another trick is to melt a plastic pen with a lighter and stick it on the screw and wait for it to cool.

Ha ha, that's Some Anarchist's-Cookbook-level stuff.

Great video about this “incident” and art theft in general https://youtu.be/EwK24E7QryU

The timing of the post suggests this episode was the genesis

In reference to the suggestion that the 1986 theft was an homage to a 1911 theft:

> In 1911, Picasso and his contemporary Guillaume Apollinaire were both suspects in the Mona Lisa theft

> but were cleared of any association with the crime

being dead is quite a good alibi

> being dead is quite a good alibi

Maybe I'm misreading either TFA or your comment, but both Picasso and Apollinaire were alive in 1911?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Apollinaire

Some more details from the Apollinaire wikipedia page:

> On 7 September 1911, police arrested and jailed Apollinaire on suspicion of aiding and abetting the theft of the Mona Lisa and a number of Egyptian statuettes from the Louvre, but released him a week later. The theft of the statues had been committed in 1907 by a former secretary of Apollinaire, Honoré Joseph Géry Pieret, who had recently returned one of the stolen statues to the French newspaper the Paris-Journal. Apollinaire implicated his friend Picasso, who had bought Iberian statues from Pieret, and who was also brought in for questioning in the theft of the Mona Lisa, but he was also exonerated. In fact, the theft of the Mona Lisa was perpetrated by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian house painter who acted alone and was only caught two years later when he tried to sell the painting in Florence.

"the possibility of an "inside job" was not considered."

Given the circumstances, it probably should have been...

But then again, this has a happy ending. The painting was returned undamaged, nobody's hurt. Cool read.

Art theft is a pretty cool crime.

Only if it's a proper heist. I don't need more guys just walking in and taking something like they're shoplifting a candy bar. I need guys meticulously planning and executing a theft that dodges the very latest in alarm and anti-theft technology.

Agreed. If no one uses gymnastics to traverse a laser filled room it's actually pretty lame.

See "The Hot Rock".

Bonus points for any rappeling and using tools that cut circular holes in glass.

Taking the discussion seriously, a case study of a well-planned heist that culminated in someone walking in at the right time and just taking the thing could actually be pretty interesting.

Right, all of these amateurs wanting to spend all this money on special glass cutting tools, rappelling equipment, bypassing alarms, or even some Ocean's 11 EMP ridiculousness when you just need a ~$10 tool and a big pair of brass ones to pull it off.

"How to steal a million" - a boomerang rather than to screwdriver..

Topkapi (1964)

No crime should be described as "cool". Adherence is the foundation of a functioning society.

Although you could argue the law is not the best arbiter of mortality.

It was civil disobedience then. What was the point? No idea, but that’s art for you.

Rosa Parks did a cool crime

Lots of crimes are cool. Adherence is the foundation of slavery.

Functioning societies need every rule and law tested, and retested continually for suitability.

You may want to re-examine your own username.

I mean, compared to arson, sure.

Compared to growing psychedelic mushrooms, I don't think so.

There's nothing cool about stealing cultural artifacts and society's ability to enjoy them.

Arguably high profile thefts increase interest in art and therefore more people enjoy art.

Also artworks can still be enjoyed post-theft through replicas etc.

And if the artwork is returned, as in this case, it's just a big win all round. Creating a new performance artwork in the process.

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