#818094 | STUDY FOR THE PROGRAMME

ABOUT THE STOLEN ART

EDGAR DEGAS - STUDY FOR THE PROGRAMME, 1884

Black chalk on paper, 24.6 x 31.4 cm (9 11/16 x 12 3/8 in.)

This is one of 2 studies for a program “for an artistic soiree”. One is a little more finished than the other. A square in the lower right-hand corner is left blank, presumably the space for information about the soiree. The figures surrounding the empty space include a dancing couple pointing their toes (the woman in a tutu and toe shoes), a woman holding bound pages in one hand (ironically, in the sketchier version, she’s more clearly a singer holding a score), the upper body of a man in an 18th-century hat and wig, sailing ships in a harbor (so sketchy in the less finished version it’s impossible to tell what the drawn lines represent), two smokestacks belching smoke, a harp partially concealing a bass fiddle behind it, with the fiddle bow illusionistically drawn over the upper part of the blank square. These pages are both charming and puzzling. What kind of fun soiree would such disparate images suggest?

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

On March 18, 1990 at 1:24AM, two men dressed as police officers walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 81 minutes later they walked out with $500 million worth of artwork (today’s value). They forced the night guards into the basement, and duct-taped their hands, eyes, and ankles. The guards were not discovered until the new shift came to relieve them around 8 am. When the police examined the gallery, they noticed that the missing paintings had been cut from the frames, instead of carefully removed. None of the pieces have ever been recovered.

13 pieces were stolen from the museum. The value of the pieces makes this the biggest art theft in the history. The museum is offering $10 million in reward money for information leading to the recovery of the stolen items. Now each piece will live forever inscribed on Bitcoin.