Stealing Rodin (Robar a Rodin)

In May, 2005, the exhibit "Rodin in Chile" took place.

It was the first time the sculptor's work came to the country.

We had Rodin in Chile,

we had people happy seeing his exhibit.

Thus it was deeply satisfying.

That lasted until one day at 5 PM.

What happened that day at 5 PM?

They called me from the Fine Arts Museum,

to tell me that...

There were a lot of journalists who wanted to talk to me.

And I asked, "Why so much interest?"

and only in that moment

did I realize what had happened.

Well, you'd get to the museum,

on time, I started at 9.

I got there, got ready.

Normally we work in suits,

"suit and tie" so to speak.

I always dress the same so I don't usually have to change a lot,

but to make sure my shoes and everything are impeccable,

and the first thing you'd do is go to the entrance,

and the other makes the rounds.

That's more or less the procedure, so...

It was my turn to make the rounds...

...that day.

I checked the halls, and obviously I went to the Rodin exhibit,

because that was the most important at the time.

I noticed right away that a sculpture was missing.

To me, it was like, "W-What happened here?"

I never imagined it had been stolen,

instead you think, ah, it was removed by someone...

...from the museum,

from conservation,

some kind of transfer, who knows.

Around 11 AM,

A guard approached me and asked me to...

to accompany him,

because they want to confirm something.

And when I saw the empty podium,

in the Matta Gallery, that was, to me...

I think among the emotions I've experienced in the museum,

without a doubt, this was the most intense.

Because the image is so tremendous,

that emptiness is so present,

the absence, that my mind really went blank.

I was in the south, in Puerto Varas at the time.

I was representing the museum in an art competition,

when they managed to reach me, which was very difficult

because I didn't use a cell phone at that time,

I don't use one now, either, nor do I plan on using one.

One of the people who came with me in that vehicle, a van,

had a cell phone, so she told me, "The Museum is calling you,"

and so I took the... cell phone,

and wham!

They said to me,

violently and brutally,

a Rodin was stolen.

In that moment, the first thing that occurred to me,

was to call the Minister of Education to let him know,

so that he wouldn't find out like I did.

The Minister of Education at the time was Sergio Bitar.

...And this was a call I received in my office,

it must've been from Clara Budnik,

telling me, "This is what happened."

I was alarmed because

the negative political implications for Chile were huge.

"In a Rodin exhibit they stole a piece in Chile".

You'd imagine, after that, nobody'd want to exhibit in Chile.

When an event like that happens to you,

your first obligation is

to call the lender.

Alejandro and I called the Rodin Museum,

I remember I called when we could, maybe 8 AM, 7 AM...

and I said, "Well, a sculpture has been stolen."

On the other end, of course, "OHHH!"

A howl, French-style...

In that time I was the chief of the brigade

for the environment and cultural heritage

I received an order from District Attorney Baytelman

that we had to take on the investigation

into the theft of a sculpture,

which had occurred at the Fine Arts Museum.

The first thing we found out,

in response to the first question you ask yourself,

it's common sense,

you don't have to be D.A. to do it, to ask...

"What about the security cameras?"

The first thing we confirmed is that,

the light that was supposed to be on,

was off. And so...

We had a camera in silence and black

from the Matta Gallery.

It's not as if the lights had failed.

For economic reasons,

the museum...

shut them off,

and the thing is, the cameras there...

aren't infrared.

Here you're seeing the pedestal

where the sculpture was.

that one looks like a hair.

Unfortunately, for the investigation, nothing.

It wasn't any good because...

there were no witnesses,

no one saw anything...

What would've been the most important, the cameras, didn't work,

that would've told us everything.

At first we had no idea how,

we thought it was an international ring,

that they'd go to steal it,

take them out of the country,

store them away for years,

and then it'd be up for sale,

or it'd ends, as with many of these robberies,

no longer in a museum, but in some rich guy's house,

who'd have it there for his eyes only.

How are you? Good afternoon.

Breaking news coming from the Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago,

where we're told of the theft

of a valuable piece by French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Live from the center of the capital,

journalist Alejandro Vega.

Alejandro, do we know what piece has been stolen?

No, Consuelo, good afternoon.

We still don't know what piece,

it was mentioned that it was possibly

"The Kiss" by Rodin, the French sculptor,

however, the only information we know so far

is that it's a piece worth 500,000 Euros

Approximately 700,000 Euros

80,000 Euros

4,000 Dollars

1.000.000 dollars

Today, such important works of art are stolen,

that it's one of the biggest forms of international crime.

that it's one of the biggest forms of international crime.

It is classified in 4th or 5th place after the trafficking of cocaine, heroin, weapons...

cybercrime, etc.

But I think the question is...

deeper than that.

Because, really...

art isn't just any object.

Art is a sacred object, always,

and this dimension of the sacred in art can't be ignored.

You know that one of the most important moments in the fame of the Mona Lisa

was when it was stolen, right before the world war

That is, in Rodin's day,

an Italian stole the Mona Lisa.

The theft was discovered by a painter

a copyist who had gone to the Louvre to reproduce the piece,

who noticed that the painting wasn't there.

He went to ask the guards and curators,

and at the end of the day there was enough evidence

that the Mona Lisa...

had disappeared.

The Mona Lisa had disappeared for 3 years

But actually the painting was found because the thief

tried to sell it to an antique dealer in Florence

So that phenomenon was very important

within the history of the Louvre

and even in art history at the beginning of the 20th century

And...

Something that makes me relate

the theft of the Rodin in Chile with that of the Mona Lisa,

is the fact that it was immediately assumed that...

that the thefts...

could have been carried out by artists.

In 2005, I was working for an exhibit in a museum,

of which the theme was

interpretations of the Temptations of Saint Anthony.

The representation of Saint Anthony

within the iconography of... Christianity,

gives rise to monstrous representations.

But the theme interested me for visual reasons.

Guillermo Frommer's exhibit opened in the museum,

in the Chile Gallery.

Thus, Rodin was in the Matta Gallery.

and Guillermo Frommer was in the Chile Gallery,

and the public that visited the opening

was fundamentally the public linked to the academic field

of Guillermo Frommer, so,

they were students from the art school at Arcis University.

I was next to Ramón,

and I saw this crowd of people,

and like, I almost took off running.

There were a lot of people, a lot of people.

And in that sense I was very happy...

with the attendance on that day of the opening

We took the liberty to go home,

the night guard had already arrived, so...

all clear, nothing new,

back home until the next day.

And the next day...

Unfortunately, we came across quite the surprise.

Right, some media outlets had come out with this story

that I was a possible suspect.

That is, that I had set all this up,

to steal the sculpture myself.

The event was held by a university after the exhibit was open

so... it was attended by students of that university,