When The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo on February 12, 1994, it sent shock waves around the world.
Edvard Munch’s world-famous painting – dubbed the ‘Mona Lisa of Norway’ because of its fame – was stolen on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, 85 miles from Oslo, making the grand ceremony a national disgrace.
The daring art heist resulted in a thrilling crime antics involving the Norwegian government, undercover agents and Scotland Yard’s specialist Art and Antiques Unit.
Now a new documentary, The Man Who Stole The Scream, hears the whole story of the only person to go to prison for the crime, former pro football player Pal Enger, now 56.
The chain-smoking Norwegian, who cuts an unattractive figure, explains how he’s been fixated on the 1893 expressionist painting since first seeing it on a school trip. The depiction of a waif-like figure desperately clutching his or her head appealed to the young boy, who was then living with an abusive stepfather.
When The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo on February 12, 1994, it sent shock waves around the world. Stock image used
“My obsession with this picture started when I first saw it,” recalls Enger. “As soon as I got close to the picture, I got an extraordinary feeling. Of fear. Strange things in my head. I immediately had such an intense connection with The Scream. And it never left me.’
Enger’s upbringing on a rough Oslo estate was crucial to his future career. In his teens he became a promising football player, but at the same time he developed into a skilled car and jewelry thief, amassing cars and boats, while staying under the radar of the police. “But I wanted more,” he explains. ‘I always loved attention. I wanted money and fame. But at that moment I mainly wanted to show the world that I could achieve something great.’
In 1988, he devised his initial plan to steal The Scream with a fellow thief, but Enger’s planning went awry and they confiscated Munch’s painting The Vampire instead. After getting caught and spending four years in prison, Enger’s sense of failure drove him to revisit his goal of stealing The Scream – this time it would be while most of the Oslo Police Department was at the Olympics. from Lillehammer.
Ironically, Enger perfected his master plan while still in prison for stealing The Vampire. “I learned so much in prison,” he says. “The other inmates called me ‘the questioning man’ because I kept asking, ‘How do you do that? How do you do that?’ I used to be maybe a common criminal. But by the time I left prison I was an expert.’
On the fateful day in 1994, two of Enger’s henchmen carried out his master plan. In the early hours of the morning, they leaned a ladder against the National Gallery, broke a window, stole the painting, and left a note saying, “Thanks for the poor security,” all in 50 seconds.
Enger was overjoyed to realize his dream of owning The Scream. “Once I got it under control, I was so happy,” he says. “I felt so good, like I was walking three feet off the ground. I felt power.’
As headlines worldwide screamed the news of the theft, the red Norwegian police immediately suspected Enger, but had no evidence. He taunted them, called them with false directions and announced in a newspaper that his newborn son had come into the world “with a scream.”
Pal Enger, pictured, is proud of the fact that he was the only one serving time for the crime. After the Norwegian police investigation stalled, they asked for help from Scotland Yard’s specialist Art Theft unit
Enger had successfully achieved his goal of catching the police. “I don’t think I fully understood how much it meant to the National Gallery, the police and everyone else,” says Enger. “I made fun of them on national TV.”
After the Norwegian police investigation stalled, they asked for help from Scotland Yard’s specialist Art Theft unit. By this time, Enger’s criminal contacts had learned about the reward money being offered and were harassing his wife and friends, leaving him shaken.
When one of his accomplices approached Norwegian art dealers to sell the painting, the Met coppers got wind of it and sprang into action. They devised an outrageous plan for veteran undercover detective Charley Hill (who died in 2021 but who appears in this documentary) to pose as a swaggering representative of California’s wealthy Getty Museum. Hill traveled to Norway to inquire about buying the painting, and despite Enger’s fears that it was a sting from the police, he was growing weary of his cat-and-mouse game.
He handed The Scream over to his accomplice Bjorn Grytdal to sell to the Getty Museum. “I felt, ‘Maybe I’ve had it long enough,'” says Enger. “Maybe I’ll drop all those dreams I had about the upcoming game. I was quite sure the police had almost no evidence against me, so the only one they could arrest was Bjorn.’
The police intervened and The Scream was found three months after the theft. But Enger’s hopes of escaping prosecution were in vain – four men were charged, including Enger, who was sentenced to six years and three months in prison in 1996, while his accomplices’ conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Enger achieved the fame – or rather the notoriety – that he had always longed for. Perverted, he even wears his conviction for stealing The Scream as a badge of honor. “The one thing I like is that no one else has been convicted of it and no one else gets credit for it,” says Enger. “It’s my story.”
The man who stole the scream, Saturday, 9pm, Sky documentaries.