The Largest Art Heist in History told through Illustration

On March 18, 1990 the largest art heist in history went down. Artwork by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Manet estimated to be worth as much as $500 million was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Two decades and thousands of leads later (not to mention a $5 million reward), and not a single artwork has been recovered.

25-year-old Kali Ciesemier was asked to illustrate it for Boston Common Magazine. Ciesemier humorously illustrated this true story; notice the key points, like the thieves who robbed the Gardner Museum knew so little about art that they cut two of the Rembrandts out of their frames and the Mona Lisa on the back of a milk carton.

When asked why she chose to use only a few colors, she told us this. “The art director wanted a faux-retro look for the series and we both discussed Saul Bass-type images, which use a very limited color palette and geometric style. I’ve always enjoyed the look of limited color palettes and generally only use a few color families in each of my illustrations anyway, so it was an easy decision for me.”


via My Modern Met

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  23. This was featured in #Art
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