A stolen painting is a strange thing. Whatever the fate of
the Kunsthal's missing art, we will always know what Freud's "Woman With
Eyes Closed" looked like. Vestigial images of the work will remain, in
books and on computer servers. But those copies can never fully communicate the
tenderness of the original.
Freud's subject was Henrietta Edwards. When she sat
for him in 2002, she was young, beautiful and recently married. She also had
terminal cancer. Edwards died in 2006, Freud in 2011. What remains of their relationship
is contained in that painting and the flush of color in her cheeks. When a work
this beautiful is stolen or destroyed, something is lost that cannot be counted
in dollars. In the world of art and insurance, however, counting in dollars is
the only way to make sense of a loss…
- Ed Caeser (2013)
