50m dlrs Van Gogh painting ’still missing’

LONDON - Egypt’s culture minister has said that a Van Gogh painting worth 50 million dollars is still missing after it was stolen from a Cairo museum.

The painting in question is called ‘Poppy Flowers’, also known as ‘Vase and Flowers’ and was “cut from its frame” at the Mahmoud Khalil Museum on Saturday, Hosni said.

According to the BBC, Farouk Hosni had said two Italians had been arrested at Cairo Airport and the small canvas found, but later claimed that he was provided with ‘inaccurate information’.

Hosni said that only 10 people had visited the Mahmoud Khalil Museum on Saturday.

“Measures are still under way to uncover the circumstances of the incident and retrieve the painting,” he said in a statement.

The same painting was previously taken from the same museum in 1978, but recovered a decade later in Kuwait.

The work, measuring 30cm by 30cm(1ft by 1ft), and depicting yellow and red flowers, is believed to have been painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1887, three years before he shot himself. (ANI)