Recovered!

The van Gogh and Monet stolen from the Buehrle Collection in Zurich last week have been recovered. A parking lot attendant at a Zurich psychiatric hospital spotted the paintings yesterday in an abandoned white car, the same car reported from the theft. The Cezanne and Degas were not in the car. Museum officials report that the two paintings are absolutely the originals, and that there is no damage.

An interesting tidbit: according to the Associated Press, the police spokesman said in the press conference that he did not know whether a ransom had been paid for the paintings, but the museum director said, "I can't give any information on that." Were the thieves paid to abandon the paintings? Or were they amateurs who realized they couldn't unload the paintings as easily as they hoped? Did the intense media attention spook them?

And where are the Cezanne and Degas?