Armed robbers stole "The Scream" and another masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch on Sunday in a bold daytime raid on an Oslo museum packed with 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 existentialist angst showing a waif-like figure against a blood-red sky, and "Madonna".
Some stunned tourists said they feared they were victims of a terror attack. The men yanked the masterpieces from the wall, walked out the front door and escaped in a black Audi car driven by a third man who had been waiting outside, police said. Worth millions of dollars, the pictures are among Munch's best-known even though he produced several similar versions of both. "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 paintings were later cut from their frames which were found smashed and scattered in an Oslo street. The car was separately found abandoned a few km (miles) away.
Munch, a founder of modern expressionism who lived from 1863 to 1944, painted both works as part of a series about love, angst and death.
Art experts speculated the thieves might demand a ransom because the works were too well known to be sold on the open market. 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.
Czech student Marketa Cajova said visitors feared the attackers were terrorists. "He had a black face mask," she told NRK radio.
Another and perhaps better known version of "The Scream" was stolen from Norway's National Gallery in a break-in in February 1994 on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
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.