OSLO, Norway, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The theft of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and "Madonna" from the Munch Museum last August closed the museum and inspired a touring exhibit.
The first of those exhibits opens Tuesday at Stockholm's Modern Museum.
A spokesman for the Munch Museum said this week the show, titled "Munch, By Himself," will also be exhibited in Oslo beginning in June if the museum is reopened by then, and will be given a final showing at London's Royal Academy beginning Sept. 17. It includes 150 works including paintings, drawings and rarely seen photographic self-portraits, mostly from the Munch Museum collection.
Meanwhile police reported no progress in recovering the Munch paintings stolen in a daring daytime raid by two armed thieves, although police spokesman Iver Stensrud said officials were "absolutely optimistic that the case will be cleared up, though it is hard to give a time perspective." He said both canvases were believed to have been damaged in the thieves' escape by automobile.
A bust of Munch stolen from his Oslo cemetery grave in November, in what police believe was a prank, was recovered in December. "The Scream," considered Munch's masterpiece, was stolen once before.
