Art

Art has for long been used as a way to express oneself. Artists express themselves through various ways. As Conklin noted, art includes the fine arts (paintings, drawings, and sculptures), ethnographic objects, antiquities, decorative arts, oriental art, and miscellaneous items such as coins, books and medals (2).
Art collectors have been able to acquire art pieces throughout history. One such collector was Emil Georg Bhrle. According the E. G. Bhrle Foundation, Emil Georg Bhrle was a German born industrialist and an art collector. Emile Bhrle studied literature and art history at the university of Freiburg and Munich before joining the imperial army as a cavalry officer. In the early 1920s, he moved to Zurich and attained Swiss citizenship in 1937.

After settling in Switzerland, Bhrle started collecting art and he focused mainly on French pieces. During the Second World War, Bhrle was able to acquire about a hundred pieces. However, thirteen of the pieces were stolen by German soldiers from France during the war and moved to Switzerland. The pieces were subsequently returned but he was able to repurchase only nine of them. After the incident, Bhrle became more careful of the art dealers that he was buying from.

In 1947, Emil Bhrle acquired Cezannes Boy in the Red Vest and in the following year he purchased Renoirs La Petite Irene.

Through his frequent international trips to Paris, London, and New York among other destinations, he was able to personally scrutinize pieces offered by various art dealers. In 1951, he was able to acquire three important pieces by Vincent van Gogh among them the Sower. Later, Bhrle began adding works such as Fauves and Cubist to his collection. Most of the pieces collected by Bhrle are currently in exhibition at the Emile Bhrle Foundation in Zurich.

Before his death, Emil Bhrle donated his art collection to the city of Zurich and an exhibition wing, Zrcher Kunstgesellschaft. He later joined the collection committee in 1940 and as a board member to oversee the exhibition in 1944.

In 1960, his family established the E. G. Bhrle Foundation which took charge of the art collection. In addition, the family added two hundred paintings and sculptures and the foundation acquired an international status. The private museum located in Zurich continues to attract visitors averaging 10,000 visitors annually.

According to the Foundations website, the collection is primarily composed of French Impressionism as well as the Post-Impressionism and is one of the most important private collections. In addition to the core pieces, the Foundation has Cubists, Fauves among other collections. Currently, the Foundation has art pieces from over 60 artists.

Art Theft
Charney reports that prior to the World War II, art thefts were carried out by idealistic persons and that they were elegant and violent free. He notes that the thieves prided themselves on the use of intelligence and dexterity. After the war, he notes that organized criminals took over and use of force and violence became a part of their modus operandi.

Throughout history, there has been many recorded art thefts from the 1473 theft of the Last Judgment Triptych by Memling to the most famous Mona Lisa theft to the more recent theft of art pieces from the Middle East. In his 2008 article, Paterson outlined the most recent art theft. He notes that in 1991, 20 pieces were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam but they were later recovered. In 1993, eight pieces from the Modern Museum in Stockholm were stolen some of which have not been recovered up till today, while in the National Museum in the same city in 2001, three portraits were taken and only one has been recovered.

Bazley notes that in February 2008, Switzerland experienced a week of major art theft (69). He describes that on the 6th February, thieves got into the art display at Pfaffikon and made away with two pieces with an estimated value of 4.4 million. The pieces were Head of Horse and Glass and Pitcher both done by Picasso.
Less than a week later, another art theft occurred at the E. G. Bhrle Foundation. Harnischfeger and Kulish reported that on 10th February, three men with ski masks entered the E. G. Bhrle Foundation art display and made away with four pieces. Paterson reported that the robbers got into the museum thirty minutes before closing time. He added that one of the robbers brandished a pistol at the visitors and the staff present at the time while the other two went on to take the paintings from the display. The four paintings stolen were the Poppy Field at Vetheuil done by Claude Monet, Blossoming Chestnut Branches by Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter and the Boy in a Red Waistcoat by Paul Cezanne. The combined value of the pieces was reported to be 163 million. Harnischfeger and Kulish further reported that the thieves carelessly threw the pieces into a white van and sped off.

The Harnischfeger and Kulish reported that from the police reports, one of the thieves had Slavic accented German. It further reported that the robbery was spectacular and lasted for less than three minutes.
A week later, Van Goghs Blossoming Chestnut Branches and Monets Poppy Field at Vetheuil were found abandoned in a car near the scene of crime. Cezannes Boy in a Red Waistcoat and Degas Ludovic Lepic and his Daughters remain missing.

The E. G. Bhrle collection art theft, according to the police reports was the largest art robbery executed in Switzerland and Europe.

Conclusion
Art pieces including the paintings, carvings, pottery, and cultural items are considered to be highly valuable. Their high value is derived from the emotional attachments associated with the pieces and what they represent. In estimating the potential financial value of art pieces, art valuers and appraisers use information from auction houses, collectors, curators, and specialists to come up with a value. Among the aspects considered are the artists, condition, date of creation of the piece, and sometimes the size of the artwork.

Although the stolen art pieces are usually of high value, the sale of such items is not easy in the legitimate as well as in the black market. This is because most of the clients and collectors can easily identify a piece as stolen. Art pieces are mostly displayed for aesthetic purposes and hence buying a stolen piece will not make sense to most people as they will not be able to display publicly. In addition, there are no many people who are willing and able to purchase such valuable pieces. However, organized criminals may steal art for a pay-off for insured art or as collateral.

With the rise in the incidences of art theft, there is a need for law enforcement to come up with systems that will discourage theft of the pieces some of which are forever lost.