Dutch art detective recovers stolen Van Gogh

Dutch art detective Arthur Brand shows the painting title “Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring”, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1884, at his home in Amsterdam on September 11, 2023. //AFP

A Dutch art detective has recovered a precious Vincent van Gogh painting that was stolen from a museum in a daring midnight heist during the coronavirus lockdown three-and-a-half years ago, police said Tuesday.

Arthur Brand took possession of the missing painting, the 1884 “Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring”, worth between three and six million euros ($3.2 million), at his Amsterdam home on Monday, stuffed in a blue IKEA bag.

Brand, dubbed the “Indiana Jones of the Art World” for tracing a series of high-profile lost artworks, told AFP that confirming the painting was the stolen Van Gogh was “one of the greatest moments of my life.”

“Arthur Brand, in cooperation with the…