Lupertz sculpture “athena” remains missing

Police continue search for stolen bronze figure of artist markus lupertz. So far there are no new findings, a police spokeswoman said in dusseldorf on sunday. The sculpture "athena" was stolen last week from an art foundry in dusseldorf.

It is unclear whether the perpetrators were only interested in the bronze or whether they were after the work of art. "Both are possible," said police spokeswoman. The value of the bronze is therefore a few thousand euros. The work of art, of which there are several versions, is estimated by lupertz at several hundred thousand euros.

Colorfully painted, 2.30 meters high and weighing 230 kilograms – it’s already a pretty striking booty. And yet the culprits escaped unrecognized. According to the police, the theft of the "athena" must have taken place between tuesday morning and thursday morning. A witness saw how two rough, powerful men transported a rough sculpture on tuesday afternoon and loaded it into a white van.

The 76-year-old lupertz himself was on site on thursday, reported the "rheinische post", which is published in dusseldorf. "He was shocked," the 73-year-old owner of the art gallery told the newspaper. "Lupertz has been our customer for 40 years and is one of my best friends. We have cast hundreds of works for him."

Lupertz is not a victim of thieves for the first time. In 2015 burglars stole about 30 drawings, watercolors, graphics and sculptures from his studio in teltow, brandenburg. "I can only ask them: put them up for me, and then it’s good," the painter and sculptor appealed at the time. Seven weeks later, all but one of the facilities were actually open to the public again.

Lupertz made no secret of the fact that he was burdened by the break-in. "For me, this is actually a more serious psychological problem than necessarily a commercial one," he told the german press agency. A few months earlier, he himself had put two intruders to flight: "suddenly, two boys were standing upstairs in my hallway," he said. "I woke up, grabbed my cane and went at them with a loud roar."

From 1988 to 2009, lupertz was rector of the state art academy in dusseldorf. In the meantime, he has moved back to his hometown of monchengladbach-rheydt, but also maintains other studios. In 1948, the von lupertz family had fled from bohmen to rheydt, where he grew up. The artist, who always appears in a black suit, with thick rings and an extravagant walking stick, is often referred to as the "painter’s furst". He himself, however, does not like this designation at all according to his own statement.