On the morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole 13 works of art.
They took a Vermeer and three works by Rembrandt, including “Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” the artist’s only known seascape. The masterpieces are said to be worth $500 million. The Gardner heist remains the biggest art theft in history.
25 years later, there have been many fizzled theories and false leads. But, few people have followed the story as closely as Stephen Kurkjian. The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter from The Boston Globe has been on this story for nearly 20 years, and he’s pieced together a deeper understanding of not just who might have stolen the paintings, but why.