Markus Lüpertz’s “Athena”
“I was shocked.” That’s what the foundry owner said when he learned that a 7 ½ foot tall sculpture went missing from his shop. The work, Athena, by German Neo-Expressionist artist Markus Lüpertz, is a brightly painted bronze weighing over 500 pounds. Once the foundry realized the sculpture was missing, they contacted the authorities. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether the work was stolen for its scrap value (just a few thousand euros) or for the work itself, estimated at a few hundred thousand euros.
This is the second time Lüpertz is the victim of theft. In 2015, 30 works of art, which included drawings, watercolors, graphics and sculptures, were stolen from his studio in Teltow, outside of Berlin. All but one of those have been recovered.
Source: Markus Lüpertz Sculpture Stolen