When The Scream was stolen from Oslo’s National Gallery on February 12, 1994, it caused a worldwide uproar.
Edvard Munch’s world-famous painting – dubbed ‘Norway’s Mona Lisa’ for its fame – was stolen on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, 85 miles from Oslo, making the grand ceremony a national embarrassment.
The daring art heist led to a suspenseful crime thriller involving the Norwegian government, undercover cops and Scotland Yard’s art and antiques department.
Now new documentary The Man Who Stole The Scream tells the full story of the only person to go to jail for the crime, former professional footballer Pal Enger, now 56.
The chain-smoking Norwegian cuts a nondescript figure and explains how he was fixated on the 1893 Expressionist painting since he first saw it on a school field trip. The depiction of a helpless figure clutching its head in desperation appealed to the little boy, who was then living with an abusive stepfather.
When The Scream was stolen from Oslo’s National Gallery on February 12, 1994, it caused a worldwide uproar. Stock image used
“My obsession with this image started when I first saw it,” Enger recalls. “As soon as I approached the picture, an extraordinary feeling came over me. From fear. Strange things in my head. I immediately had such an intense connection to The Scream. And it never left me.’
Upbringing Enger on a rough Oslo estate was crucial to his future career. As a teenager, he became a promising soccer player, but at the same time developed into a skilled vehicle and jewelry thief, pilfering on cars and boats while staying under the police radar. “But I wanted more,” he explains. “I’ve always liked attention. I wanted money and fame. But most of all, back then, I wanted to show the world that I could do something big.”
In 1988, he and a fellow thief hatched his original plan to steal The Scream, but Enger’s plan went awry and they grabbed Munch’s painting The Vampire instead. After being caught and spending four years in prison, feelings of failure made Enger reconsider his goal of stealing The Scream – this time while most of Oslo’s police officers were at the Lillehammer Olympics were.
Ironically, Enger perfected his master plan while still in prison for stealing The Vampire. “I learned so much in prison,” he says. “The other prisoners called me ‘The Questioning Man’ because I kept asking, ‘How do you do that?’ How you do that?’ Before maybe I was a common criminal. But when I left prison, I was an expert.”
On that fateful day in 1994, two of Enger’s accomplices put his master plan into action. In the early hours of the morning, within 50 seconds they put a ladder up to the National Gallery, smashed a window, stole the painting and left a note that read “Thank you for the poor security.”
Enger was over the moon to have achieved his dream of owning The Scream. “Once I was in control of it, I was so happy,” he says. “I felt so good, like I was walking three feet off the ground.” I felt power.’
When the theft made headlines around the world, red-faced Norwegian police immediately suspected Enger but had no proof. He taunted them, phoned them with false leads and announced in a newspaper that his newborn son was born “with a cry”.
Pal Enger pictured is proud he was the only one serving a sentence for the crime. After the Norwegian police’s investigation stalled, they turned to Scotland Yard’s art theft department for help
Enger had successfully achieved his goal of tricking the police. “I don’t think I really understood how much it meant to the National Gallery, the police and everyone else,” says Enger. “I fooled them on national television.”
After the Norwegian police’s investigation stalled, they turned to Scotland Yard’s art theft department for help. By this time, Enger’s criminal contacts had heard of the reward being offered and were harassing his wife and friends, which devastated him.
Then, when one of his accomplices approached Norwegian art dealers to sell the painting, the Met coppers found out about it and took action. They hatched a monstrous plan for veteran undercover detective Charley Hill (who died in 2021 but has a role in this documentary) to pose as a boastful representative of California’s wealthy Getty Museum. Hill traveled to Norway to inquire about buying the painting, and despite Enger’s fears it was a police stab, he grew tired of his game of cat and mouse.
He gave The Scream to his accomplice Bjorn Grytdal to sell to the Getty Museum. “I felt like, ‘Maybe I’ve had it long enough,’ says Enger. “Maybe I’ll just drop all the dreams I had about the upcoming game.” I was absolutely certain that the police had almost no evidence against me, so the only one they could arrest was Björn.’
The police snapped up, and three months after the theft, The Scream was recovered. But Enger’s hopes of avoiding prosecution were in vain – four men have been charged, including Enger, who was sentenced to six years and three months in prison in 1996, while his accomplices’ convictions were overturned on a formality.
Enger achieved the stardom—or, more accurately, notoriety—that he had always craved. Perversely, he even wears his conviction for stealing The Scream as a badge of honor. “The only thing I like is that no one else has been judged for it and no one else gets credit for it,” says Enger. “It’s my story.”
The Man Who Stole the Scream, Saturday, 9 p.m., Sky Documentaries.