OSLO, NORWAY.-A woman that is believed to have been an accomplice in the theft of Munch’s The Scream in Oslo has been detained by Norwegian police. The woman is charged with handling stolen goods after allegedly being found to have banknotes from a bank robbery in which a policeman was shot dead. According to a police lawyer the woman was suspected of being an accomplice to the Munch theft giving no further details. The woman is in her 40’s and was arrested at her home in Oslo on Thursday. When Munch died in January 1944, it transpired that he had unconditionally bequeathed all his remaining works to the City of Oslo. Edvard Munch's art is the most significant Norwegian contribution to the history of art, and he is the only Norwegian artist who has exercised a decisive influence on European art trends, above all as a pioneer of Expressionism in Germany and the Nordic countries.
The Munch Museum opened in 1963 and was purpose-built to house this unique collection of approximately 1100 paintings, 4500 drawings and 18 000 prints. Major works will always be on display in the museum. The selection is changed regularly. In 1994, expansion and rehabilitation of the museum was financed by the Japanese company Idemitsu Kosan Ltd. The museum was partly rebuilt in 2005 to upgrade security.
