The £32 million painting, known as Poppy Flowers or Vase With Flowers, was taken from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum on the banks of the Nile.
Egypt’s culture minister Farouk Hosni said airport security confiscated the oil painting from an Italian man and a woman.
One Egyptian official, who asked not to be named, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It is believed the thief cut the painting from the frame and hid it in his suit.’
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He said the canvas was stolen at around noon while most of the museum staff, including some security guards, were at prayers at a mosque next door.
He added that all the security cameras in the museum had been out of action for a month.
Mr Hosni said the country’s air and sea ports had been alerted in an operation to stop the work leaving the country.
An airport security source said that an Italian youth was being held after being found with the stolen painting.
His companion, a young Italian woman, was also detained. The youth apparently claimed he had bought it from an Egyptian and was not aware it had been stolen, the source said.
This is the second time the
piece, painted by the Dutch-born post-impressionist around
1887, has been stolen from the Khalil Museum.
It was taken in 1978 and recovered two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait. Officials have never fully revealed the details of that theft.
When it was recovered, Egypt’s then interior minister said three Egyptians involved in the heist had been arrested and told police where the canvas was hidden. Authorities never reported whether they were charged.
A duplicate subsequently sold in London for £27 million, sparking speculation in Egypt that the returned painting was a fake.
The 12in-square painting resembles a flower scene by the French artist Adolphe Monticelli, whose work deeply affected the young van Gogh.
The Monticelli painting also is part of the Khalil collection.
Most of the canvasses for which van Gogh is remembered were painted in 29 months of frenzied activity before his suicide in 1890 at the age of 37.
Source:dailymail.co.uk
