Dutch art thieves were no ‘Ocean’s 11’ team

By Toby Sterling

Published October 17, 2012 4:00am ET

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Dutch art thieves were no ‘Ocean’s 11’ team — CORRECTS SPELLING OF PAUL GAUGUIN'S NAME This photo released by the police in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, shows the 1898 painting 'Girl in Front of Open Window' by Paul Gauguin. Dutch police say seven paintings stolen from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam include one by Pablo Picasso, one by Henri Matisse, and two by Claude Monet. The heist, one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, occurred while the private Triton Foundation collection was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time. (AP Photo/Police Rotterdam) | AP

AMSTERDAM (AP) — In Hollywood movies, heists usually feature criminals who plan meticulously and use high-tech equipment to avoid detection. But the thieves who snatched seven paintings by Picasso, Matisse and Monet worth millions from a gallery in Rotterdam appear to have taken a less glamorous approach, relying mostly on speed and brute force.

In other words, the theft from the Kunsthal exhibition on avant-garde art was more “smash and grab” than “Ocean’s 11.”

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