Thieves nab Van Goghs worth millions

Two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh were stolen overnight Saturday from the Amsterdam museum dedicated to the 19th century impressionist.

Curators at the Van Gogh Museum discovered at 8 a.m. the paintings had been taken from the main exhibition hall. Scores of the Van Gogh's works are displayed in the hall.

On Saturday morning, police searched for clues as curators rearranged the remaining paintings to cover the blank spots and tourists expecting to tour the museum gathered outside taking photographs of the crime scene.

The value of the stolen paintings wasn't immediately known, but Van Gogh works regularly sell for millions of dollars.

One was "View of the Sea and Scheveningen." Painted in 1882, it depicts a boat setting off from a beach into a stormy sea near The Hague. The paint contains sand that blew up from the beach as Van Gogh worked.

The other was a picture of the church at Neunen, where Van Gogh's father had been pastor. It was painted in 1885.

The museum opened in 1973 and has the world's largest collection of works by the Dutch impressionist.

Police found a ladder and a rope at the back of the museum and a broken window on the roof. They were also studying videotapes taken from the museum's surveillance cameras.

The Van Gogh heist was the second high-profile theft in a week. On Monday, a diamond exhibition in The Hague was hit by thieves. Millions of dollars worth of gems were stolen.