- Modigliani’s “Woman with a Fan” painted in 1919
What a security system. The Paris Museum of Modern Art which is not far from the Eifel Tower has had a malfunctioning alarm system since March 30, which is more than a month and a half. The parts necessary to fix the system are backordered. So what do the brilliant administrators of the museum do to shore up the system during this critical period.
Why they have 3 guards to keep a close eye on an entire museum over night. Have you ever been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Fifth Avenue and 82nd street. The museum employs 2000 people, which must include a thousand security personnel. The Paris Museum has 3 guys munching on croissants during the night when they aren’t sleeping, and you want to know how someone broke through a window and walked off with four pictures work $112 million between them according to the insurance records.
The pictures included Picasso’s “The Pigeon with the Peas” and Henry Matisse’s Pastoral valued at near $19 million. The Picasso is worth $28 million. There were also a Modigliani, Leger, and Braque. Thank God, the Modigliani wasn’t one of his coveted nudes. Museum officials are now ranting and raving that the pictures are unsalable so the thieves should give them back – sure.
There are a whole slew of reasons why the pictures can be useful. First they are salable behind the former Iron Curtain countries to individuals who now control Russia’s lucrative criminal trades. The pictures may also be used as collateral in international drug trafficking. The rich boys on Park Avenue in New York will not be buying these pieces of art, that’s for sure.
Finally it was an inside job. The thief or thieves knew that the alarm system wasn’t working that the security guards were a couple of pasty boys. How are you going to outsmart a world class thief, with 3 guys making $7 per hour wondering when their next coffee break is.
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