Skyfall (2012): James Bond and Modigliani's "La Femme a l'Eventail", Stolen in the 2010 Paris Heist

     Directed by Sam Mendes, based on the characters of Ian Fleming, Skyfall (2012) is the 23rd James Bond film and the third to star Daniel Craig as 007. The story concerns James Bond, returning from an assumed death, to battle a deranged former agent that is hell-bent on destroying M, the MI6 leader. In a throwback to the Dr. No theory of stolen art, Modigliani's painting "La Femme a l'Eventail", stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art in 2010, makes a cameo. Daniel Craig is great, as always, as James Bond. Javier Bardem, going platinum blonde, is wonderful as the villain. Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris are sexy as the Bond Girls. The supporting cast is good as well, including Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney.

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Berenice Marlohe: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Naomie Harris: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

the stolen Modigliani painting: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Stolen Modigliani painting: "La Femme a l'Eventail": Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Javier Bardem: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Berenice Marlohe: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Javier Bardem and Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Judi Dench and Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig and Judi Dench: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Daniel Craig: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

Berenice Marlohe: Skyfall. James Bond, 007

"Skyfall"- movie trailer

“Still Life with a Candlestick” by Fernand Leger: Stolen on May 20, 2010

Fernand Leger. Still Life with a Candlestick. Stolen 2010. by Travis Simpkins

“Still Life with a Candlestick” by Fernand Leger: Stolen on May 20, 2010

by Travis Simpkins

The Painting:

     In Fernand Leger's 1922 painting, Still Life with a Candlestick, interlocking vertical and horizontal formations insert a rational and corrective element to the Cubist style. Primary colors, combined with sharp black & white areas, create an interesting visual interplay of disassembled form and pattern. Typical of Leger's works from the 1920's, the painting projects a sense of formidable stability to an otherwise mundane subject matter.

The Theft:

     On May 20, 2010, a lone thief pulled off one of the biggest art thefts in history. Five works, valued at upwards of €100m, were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The filched paintings were well-known works by top-tier artists: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Leger and Braque.

     Lax security and careless blunders were largely to blame for the success of the heist. It was discovered that the paintings were gone around 7:00 a.m. The three guards on duty that night were dumbfounded, telling investigators that they “saw nothing.” A closer look at the museum's security system and the events of that shift painted an unsettling picture. Inspection of the security alarms revealed that the motion detectors that covered the area in which the theft took place had been non-functional for nearly two months, since March 30. The alarms points were malfunctioning, causing false alarms, and the management decided to disable them to alleviate their frustration. Spare parts to make repairs had been ordered, but had not arrived yet.

     On the night of May 20, all of the exterior CCTV cameras were focused towards the roof of the building, leaving the guards blind to street level activity. At about 4:00 a.m., the thief sheared a padlock and smashed through a first floor window to gain entry to the Musée d'Art Moderne. Once inside, the masked “burly” thief passed by an array of interior CCTV cameras, which nicely recorded his nonchalant movements as he perpetrated the crime. The thief spent about 15 minutes removing the five canvases from their frames, and he placed them all together in a large single bundle before exiting from the same window. French investigators theorize that the guards were sleeping, or otherwise distracted, in order to have missed the entire crime playing out on their monitors. The Brigade de Répression du Banditisme believes that the thief acted alone.

     In 2011, a suspect told police that he had thrown the five paintings in the garbage and that they were destroyed by a trash compactor. However, this claim is unsubstantiated.

     The five masterpieces are unsellable and have not been recovered.

French Police investigate the 2010 Paris Museum of Modern Art Heist

The 5 paintings stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris

“La pastorale” by Henri Matisse: Stolen on May 20, 2010

Henri Matisse. La pastorale. Stolen, 2010. by Travis Simpkins

“La pastorale” by Henri Matisse: Stolen on May 20, 2010

by Travis Simpkins

The Painting:

     Bold use of high-keyed color and undisguised brushwork take precedence over any representational fidelities, making Henri Matisse's La pastorale a prime example of Fauvism. With vibrant colors, applied directly from the tube, Matisse depicts nude figures reclining in the foreground of a pulsing landscape. The picture was painted in 1905, at the height of the short-lived artistic movement, which ran between 1904 and 1908. The loose group of Les Fauves or “the wild beasts” had three exhibitions together, displaying their resolute visual departure from traditional practices.

The Theft:

     On May 20, 2010, a lone thief pulled off one of the biggest art thefts in history. Five works, valued at upwards of €100m, were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The filched paintings were well-known works by top-tier artists: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Leger and Braque.

     Lax security and careless blunders were largely to blame for the success of the heist. It was discovered that the paintings were gone around 7:00 a.m. The three guards on duty that night were dumbfounded, telling investigators that they “saw nothing.” A closer look at the museum's security system and the events of that shift painted an unsettling picture. Inspection of the security alarms revealed that the motion detectors that covered the area in which the theft took place had been non-functional for nearly two months, since March 30. The alarms points were malfunctioning, causing false alarms, and the management decided to disable them to alleviate their frustration. Spare parts to make repairs had been ordered, but had not arrived yet.

     On the night of May 20, all of the exterior CCTV cameras were focused towards the roof of the building, leaving the guards blind to street level activity. At about 4:00 a.m., the thief sheared a padlock and smashed through a first floor window to gain entry to the Musée d'Art Moderne. Once inside, the masked “burly” thief passed by an array of interior CCTV cameras, which nicely recorded his nonchalant movements as he perpetrated the crime. The thief spent about 15 minutes removing the five canvases from their frames, and he placed them all together in a large single bundle before exiting from the same window. French investigators theorize that the guards were sleeping, or otherwise distracted, in order to have missed the entire crime playing out on their monitors. The Brigade de Répression du Banditisme believes that the thief acted alone.

     In 2011, a suspect told police that he had thrown the five paintings in the garbage and that they were destroyed by a trash compactor. However, this claim is unsubstantiated.

     The five masterpieces are unsellable and have not been recovered.

Police investigate the 2010 Paris Museum of Modern Art Heist

The 5 works stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris

“Le pigeon aux petits pois” by Pablo Picasso: Stolen on May 20, 2010

Picasso: Le pigeon aux petits loi. Stolen, 2010. by Travis Simpkins

“Le pigeon aux petits pois” by Pablo Picasso: Stolen on May 20, 2010

by Travis Simpkins

The Painting:

     Painted in rich tones of ochre and brown, Le pigeon aux petits pois or The Pigeon with Green Peas exudes a palpable warmth. The 26x21 oil on canvas was conceived in 1911, while Picasso was in the creative throes of his Cubist period. Bold strokes and sharp lines deconstruct the subject, presumably of a pigeon making plans to swipe some peas outside of a Parisian café. In cubism, subjects are visually analyzed, taken apart and reassembled in abstract form. The theoretical essence of Cubism is that instead of being relegated to a single focused viewpoint, a subject can be seen from all sides simultaneously, placing it in a greater context. Picasso utilized this innovative style from about 1908-1912.

The Theft:

     On May 20, 2010, a lone thief pulled off one of the biggest art thefts in history. Five works, valued at upwards of €100m, were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The filched paintings were well-known works by top-tier artists: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Leger and Braque.

Lax security and careless blunders were largely to blame for the success of the heist. It was discovered that the paintings were gone around 7:00 a.m. The three guards on duty that night were dumbfounded, telling investigators that they “saw nothing.” A closer look at the museum's security system and the events of that shift painted an unsettling picture. Inspection of the security alarms revealed that the motion detectors that covered the area in which the theft took place had been non-functional for nearly two months, since March 30. The alarms points were malfunctioning, causing false alarms, and the management decided to disable them to alleviate their frustration. Spare parts to make repairs had been ordered, but had not arrived yet.

     On the night of May 20, all of the exterior CCTV cameras were focused towards the roof of the building, leaving the guards blind to street level activity. At about 4:00 a.m., the thief sheared a padlock and smashed through a first floor window to gain entry to the Musée d'Art Moderne. Once inside, the masked “burly” thief passed by an array of interior CCTV cameras, which nicely recorded his nonchalant movements as he perpetrated the crime. The thief spent about 15 minutes removing the five canvases from their frames, and he placed them all together in a large single bundle before exiting from the same window. French investigators theorize that the guards were sleeping, or otherwise distracted, in order to have missed the entire crime playing out on their monitors. The Brigade de Répression du Banditisme believes that the thief acted alone.

     In 2011, a suspect told police that he had thrown the five paintings in the garbage and that they were destroyed by a trash compactor. However, this claim is unsubstantiated.

      The five masterpieces are unsellable and have not been recovered.

French Police investigate the 2010 Paris Museum of Modern Art Heist

The 5 Stolen Masterpieces. Paris Museum of Modern Art

“La Femme à l'Éventail” by Amedeo Modigliani: Stolen on May 20, 2010

Woman with a Fan. Amedeo Modigliani. by Travis Simpkins

“La Femme à l'Éventail” by Amedeo Modigliani: Stolen on May 20, 2010

by Travis Simpkins

The Painting:

     La Femme à l'Éventail or Woman with a Fan was painted in 1919, and is a prime example of Modigliani's technique. The typically elongated portrait depicts Lunia Czechowska, a Polish woman whose husband was a friend of Modigliani's dealer Leopold Zborowski. Lunia posed for the artist ten times during a three year period, with this portrait being completed one year before Modigliani's death.

The Theft:

     On May 20, 2010, a lone thief pulled off one of the biggest art thefts in history. Five works, valued at up to €500m, were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The filched paintings were well-known works by top-tier artists: Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Leger and Braque.

     Lax security and careless blunders were largely to blame for the success of the heist. It was discovered that the paintings were gone around 7:00 a.m. The three guards on duty that night were dumbfounded, telling investigators that they “saw nothing.” A closer look at the museum's security system and the events of that shift painted an unsettling picture. Inspection of the security alarms revealed that the motion detectors that covered the area in which the theft took place had been non-functional for nearly two months, since March 30. The alarms points were malfunctioning, causing false alarms, and the management decided to disable them to alleviate their frustration. Spare parts to make repairs had been ordered, but had not arrived yet.

     On the night of May 20, all of the exterior CCTV cameras were focused towards the roof of the building, leaving the guards blind to street level activity. At about 4:00 a.m., the thief sheared a padlock and smashed through a first floor window to gain entry to the Musée d'Art Moderne. Once inside, the masked “burly” thief passed by an array of interior CCTV cameras, which nicely recorded his nonchalance as he perpetrated the crime. The thief spent about 15 minutes removing the five canvases from their frames, and he placed them all together in a large single bundle before exiting from the same window. French investigators theorize that the guards were sleeping, or otherwise distracted, in order to have missed the entire crime playing out on their monitors. The Brigade de Répression du Banditisme believes that the thief acted alone.

     In 2011, a suspect told police that he had thrown the five paintings in the garbage and that they were destroyed by a trash compactor. However, this claim is unsubstantiated.

     The five masterpieces are unsellable and have not been recovered.

Police investigate the 2010 Art Heist scene at Paris' Museum of Modern Art

The 5 Stolen Paintings: 2010, Paris Museum of Modern Art

Stolen Cavalier: "La Femme a l'Eventail" by Amedeo Modigliani: Stolen on May 20, 2010

Stolen Cavalier: Modigliani, 2010 Paris Theft. by Travis Simpkins

Read the full post HERE:

Stolen Cavalier: "La Femme a l'Eventail" 

by Amedeo Modigliani: 

Stolen on May 20, 2010