Pål Enger, Celebrity Art Thief Behind 'The Scream' Heist, Dead At 57

HELSINKI (AP) — Pål Enger, a talented Norwegian soccer player turned celebrity art thief who pulled off the sensational 1994 heist of Edvard Munch’s famed “The Scream” painting from the National Gallery in Oslo, has died.

He was 57.

Tina Wulf, press officer at Vålerenga Fotball, an acclaimed Oslo soccer club for which Enger played as a teenager, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he died Saturday evening.

She was unable to provide information into the circumstances of his death but said he had been in touch with Vålerenga earlier this summer. Citing family sources, Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet said Enger died in Oslo.

Enger served his first prison sentence at the age of 19, before he kicked off a long string of art and jewelry thefts in 1988 when he climbed into a window at the Munch Museum in Oslo and stole the artist’s painting “Love and Pain”.

More dramatically still, on Feb. 12, 1994 — the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway — Enger managed to steal the “The Scream” from the National Gallery.

In the 50-second theft, videotaped by a security camera, two thieves climbed a ladder, broke a window and emerged with the painting, then valued at at least $55 million.

They left a postcard saying: “Thanks for the poor security.”

News of the theft of the painting made headlines around the world, and after his capture Enger became an instant national celebrity in Norway with documentaries and an international television series made of his story, including the 2023 documentary “The Man Who Stole The Scream.”

The painting was recovered undamaged after Enger confessed that he had hidden it in a secret compartment located in a living room table at his family’s home.

Enger was repeatedly convicted of art