This Vincent van Gogh Painting Was Found Wrapped in an Ikea Bag and a Blood-Stained Pillow. Now, the Artwork Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory

Art sleuth Arthur Brand recovered “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” in 2023, three years after it was stolen from a Dutch museum. Following careful restoration, the canvas is now back on display

Ellen Wexler | Writer and Special Projects Editor

April 10, 2026

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When art detective Arthur Brand answered the phone, the man on the line said that he was in possession of a missing Vincent van Gogh painting. He was calling, he explained, because he wanted to return it. In exchange, he asked only to remain anonymous.

On September 11, 2023, the man dropped off a bright blue Ikea bag at Brand’s home. Inside, The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884), which is worth millions, was covered in bubble wrap and tucked inside a blood-stained pillow—the result of a cut on the man’s hand.

Officials at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, which owns the painting, were overjoyed. But they also noticed that the piece had suffered damage during its time away, and they tasked conservator Marjan de Visser with repairing it. Now, after months of careful work, the newly restored artwork is on public display.

“We are very happy that it is back,” Karina Smrkovsky, a spokesperson for the museum, tells the Dutch broadcaster RTV Noord, per a translation by NL Times. “This work is very special to the museum. We do have more works by van Gogh in the collection, but this is the only painting.”

The painting was stolen in March 2020, when it was on view in a temporary exhibition at the Singer Laren museum, located southeast of Amsterdam. Security footage showed a masked man using a sledgehammer to break two layers of protective glass and leaving the museum with the artwork.

In 2022, a Dutch court sentenced a man identified only as Nils M. to eight years in prison for stealing artworks, including The Parsonage Garden, in two separate museum heists. But by that time, he was no longer in possession of the paintings, which were likely circulating on the black market.

That’s where Brand comes in. He has helped find more than 150 stolen artworks and artifacts, including paintings by the likes of Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. Known as the “Indiana Jones of the art world,” he modestly insists that he’s closer to the lead of The Pink Panther. “Do you know Peter Sellers, Inspector Clouseau? Well, I’m like that,” he tells NPR’s Rebecca Rosman. “I always follow the wrong lead.”

But in 2023, when Brand found himself holding The Parsonage Garden, he knew he’d followed the right lead. He recorded himself unwrapping the artwork à la an unboxing video, and his joy was palpable.

Richard Bronswijk, head of the Dutch police art crime unit, tells NPR that some private detectives—usually the ones motivated by money—tend to create more problems by getting involved. But Brand, he says, is different. He’s motivated by his love of the game. He lives for the moment when a van Gogh emerges from an Ikea bag.

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Soon after the painting’s return, the Groninger Museum put it back on display, allowing visitors to see the damage sustained during its time away. “It is damaged by scratches so it’s not in a perfect state, but it’s restorable,” Andreas Bluhm, director of the museum, told Agence France-Presse at the time.

Eventually, museum officials handed the painting over to de Visser, who made several new discoveries during the restoration. The piece shows a woman walking through a garden, but the woman’s face appears to include details that were added later by another artist—perhaps “to make the work more attractive to potential buyers,” according to a statement from the museum. “De Visser removed the extra details.”

The painting is now back on public display. According to the museum, it looks just as it did when van Gogh painted it nearly 150 years ago. A digital screen shows photos from before and after the restoration, allowing budding art sleuths to see whether they can make out the changes.

Ellen Wexler | | Read More

Ellen Wexler is a staff writer and special projects editor, digital, for Smithsonian magazine.