'The Scream,' 'Madonna' go on display before repairs

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One canvas had two rips in it; another had a damaged corner.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The Edvard Munch masterpieces, "The Scream" and "Madonna," damaged when they were stolen in 2004, were displayed to the press Tuesday for the first time since the theft.

The paintings, which are considered priceless, were shown under tight security at the Oslo Munch Museum, which also plans a brief public exhibition before painstaking restoration begins.

Police recovered the artworks Aug. 31, just over two years after masked gunmen stole them from the museum in a bold daylight raid.

"The Scream," probably Munch's best-known work, has become an icon of modern anxiety, appearing on everything from T-shirts to costume masks. There are four versions of the painting, depicting a waiflike figure apparently screaming or hearing a scream.

What damage was done

"The Scream" suffered damage to one corner and "Madonna" had two small rips in its canvas. They also had scratches, but the museum said both could be repaired.

For the press preview, as well as for the public exhibition today through Sunday, the works were laid on a table, each under a heavy, specially designed glass box.

Art lovers had been clamoring to see the paintings, which museum officials said could take a year or more to restore.

"We wanted to share the homecoming with the public," museum director Ingebjoerg Ydstie said. "The paintings were not so badly damaged that they could not be displayed without full-artistic appreciation."

After the exhibition, experts will begin a four-step restoration process, she said. They will assess the damage, agree on repair methods and set an ethical limit on the extent of restoration, before finally starting the actual work.

"There is a line between restoring and adding something to the pictures," she said. "You can't add new elements to an original Munch work."

That includes deciding whether the artworks could be touched up with paint and, if so, how much, museum conservator Biljana Topalova-Casadiego told The Associated Press.

Time and technology

She said damage assessment on its own was a time-consuming project, using such technology as X-rays and microscopes.

"You can't see all the damage by eye," Topalova-Casadiego said. "Much of the damage is at the micro level."

Wednesday, September 27, 2006