[intro]Not Criminal Masterminds[/intro]

The Monet painting recovered in Poland has led to a little more information about who steals art, why and how. But the truth isn’t something out of a spy thriller. It’s mostly kind of sad, if you read Agence France Presse:

An unemployed construction worker who stole Poland’s only painting by the French Impressionist Claude Monet was sentenced Thursday to three years behind bars. The 41-year-old man pleaded guilty to the charges, saying he stole the 1882 Monet canvas titled “Plage de Pourville” from a museum in Poznan, eastern Poland, in 2000 after spending hours admiring it.

[…] The construction worker admitted to cutting the Monet measuring 60 by 73 centimeters (23 by 28 inches) out of its frame and replacing it with a fake, reports said. He stashed the painting, valued at a million dollars, in a wardrobe at his parents’ house, without them ever knowing. It was recovered this January thanks to his finger-print traces.

Art Thief Jailed for Stealing Poland’s Only Monet (AFP)