Dutch police make arrest in thefts of Van Gogh, Hals works

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police have arrested a suspect in the theft last year of two valuable paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Frans Hals from separate museums.

But a police spokeswoman says the paintings are still missing.

She said a 58-year-old man was arrested at his home on Tuesday morning.

His identity was not released, in line with Dutch privacy guidelines.

The spokeswoman said the investigation is continuing.

Van Gogh’s “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884” was snatched from the Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam in March 2020.

The Hals work, “Two Laughing Boys,” was stolen five months later from a different Dutch museum.

According to The Associated Press, the Van Gogh painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum when a burglar smashed through reinforced glass doors to get into the museum, which is less than six miles from the town where the suspect was arrested.

Last year police said the same Hals painting was stolen in 1988 together with a work by Jacob van Ruisdael.

They were both recovered three years later, The AP reported.

According to The AP, the two paintings were stolen again in 2011 but were recovered six months later.