Author Archives: Sara Estes

We delve into 1997 story of a stolen Gustav Klimt painting that stumped the world. It’s a page-turner, a cliffhanger, and a nail-biter all in one.

This week, we delve into a recent crime in Berlin where, Rebeccah Blum, a distinguished American curator was found stabbed to death by her boyfriend a renowned British photographer.

If a painting exists as a cultural provocation and receives a cultural provocation, is the provocateur guilty? Barnett Newman found out first hand.

A 51-year old Czech artist smashed a framed painting over Marina Abramović’s head as an art performance. Why?

A soggy theft at The Loovre (yes, Loovre) results in three extremely valuable paintings being stolen. Was it a prank or a rebellious act? Find out.

In a box marked “Miscellaneous High School Artwork” was a Chagall painting stolen thirty years prior. Who stole it and how was the FBI able to recover it?

Picasso’s ‘Potrait of Suzanne Bloch’ is, arguably, one of his worst works but that didn’t stop masked men from lifting the work from the São Paulo Museum of Art in 2007.

Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre went missing in 1985 and stayed missing until 2017 when it unceremoniously appeared at an estate sale for two teachers, Rita and Jerry Alter. Had the mild-mannered couple stolen it?

Sara and Veronica discuss famed French burglar Vjeran Tomic and his single-handed heist of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Coming Soon: Thick as Thieves, a podcast where hosts Sara Estes and Veronica Kavass discuss heists, forgeries and all sorts of art crimes. Follow Thick as Thieves on Instagram. Music by Patrick Damphier. Show artwork by Saskia Keultjes.