I Scream, You Scream...

By now, you've likely heard the Edvard Munch's famous painting, "The Scream", has been stolen, along with his "Madonna", from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. If this means nothing to you, here's a bit more background on this masterpiece and the late artist.

This latest crime has rekindled the debate over what constitutes a masterpiece, and why we value them so ridiculously anyway. I came across this well-written op-ed piece on the subject, and it made me smile. While reading it, I recalled being told by one particularly self-righteous "connoisseur" of art that real culture encompasses, and is limited to, looking at masterpieces hanging in world-famous museums. He then rhymed off the names of the masters he had seen at said museums, likely not understanding or appreciating any of the subtle genius that led up to their respective creation.

Of course, anything that did not fit his narrow definition of true art was, by definition, not worth discussing.

Right.

This begs the question, of course, of why anyone would steal a priceless painting in the first place, let alone an armload of 'em. It's like stealing a Rolls-Royce in that it's about as inconspicuous as P. Diddy at the opera. It's also not as if you're going to find a thriving parts market for the thing anyway. You've got to wonder about the criminal mind. Aside from being an incredibly wonderful song by Canada's own Lawrence Gowan (aka "Larry Gowan" or simply "Gowan"), there's little I understand about what makes a scofflaw tick. Thank goodness.

I guess I'll have to satisfy myself with staring at masterpieces on the web. And if I happen to stare at a non-masterpiece by a non-famous, non-dead, non-hanging-in-a-stuffy-museum artist, I guess it'll have to be our little secret.