Armed art thieves steal Munch's 'The Scream'

9.00pm UPDATE

OSLO - Armed robbers stole "The Scream" and another masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch on Sunday in a bold daytime raid on an Oslo museum in front of dozens of terrified tourists.

Two masked robbers ran into the Munch Museum, threatened staff with a handgun and forced people to lie down before grabbing "The Scream," an icon of existential angst showing a waif-like figure against a blood-red sky, and "Madonna."

Some stunned visitors said they feared they were victims of a terror attack. The men simply walked out the front door -- with one painting bumping on the ground -- and escaped in a stolen black Audi car driven by a third man, police said.

Worth millions of dollars, the pictures are among Munch's best-known, even though he produced several versions of both 1893 works. "Madonna" shows a mysterious bare-breasted woman with flowing black hair.

"We're following all possible leads ... but we don't know who did this," police detective chief inspector Kjell Pedersen told a news conference. One of the thieves spoke during the robbery -- in Norwegian.

The wooden frames of the paintings were found smashed and scattered along an Oslo street and the car was separately found abandoned a few km (miles) away with no trace of the paintings.

Munch, a founder of modern expressionism who lived from 1863 to 1944, painted the two works as part of a series about love, angst and death.

RANSOM?

Art experts speculated the thieves might want a ransom as the works are too well known to be sold except to a reclusive collector. But, Pedersen said: "We have heard nothing."

Police cordoned off the museum, informed Interpol and alerted airports and border crossings. No shots were fired but a female guard was treated for shock. Up to 70 people were in the museum at the time and perhaps 30 witnessed the robbery.

"I saw one of the men put a gun right behind a guard's head," said Richard Marcus, a 63-year-old Texas businessman visiting Oslo. "It took a long time for the police to come."

Czech student Marketa Cajova said many feared the attackers were terrorists. "He had a black face mask," she told NRK radio.

Another, perhaps better known, version of "The Scream" was stolen from Norway's National Gallery when thieves simply broke a window and climbed in with a ladder in February 1994 on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

The version of "The Scream" stolen on Sunday is a fragile tempera and pastel on board. "It's impossible to say which is the best," said Gunnar Soerensen, head of the Munch Museum. A third, less well known, version is in private hands.

He denied that Sunday's robbery showed security was too lax. He said more people could be in danger if, for instance, doors automatically locked when a painting was pulled off the wall.

In 1994, the government refused to pay a ransom for "The Scream" and police caught the thieves and recovered the picture. One of those thieves, now out of jail, said via his lawyer that he was not involved on Sunday.

A Norwegian art expert estimated "The Scream" stolen on Sunday would fetch US$60-US$75 million if sold at auction and "Madonna" US$15 million.

In the foreground of "The Scream," on a road with railings, is a human figure with hands to the head, eyes staring, mouth agape. Further back are two men in top hats and behind them a landscape of fjord and hills in wavy lines against a red sky.

(US$1=6.701 Norwegian Crown)