Woolly Thinking

In Spain, someone has managed to lose a 38 tonne steel sculpture by Richard Serra. "The piece's disappearance only came to light when the museum's director Ana Martinez de Aguilar decided to put it on display again." says the BBC in a hushed voice.

Last December, this beautiful bronze Henry Moore sculpture was stolen, and police feared that it could be melted down and sold as scrap.

I believe I am the first to make the obvious connection here. At some point, a guilty someone at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, consumed by chagrin and the naked fear of discovery, must have decided to replace the missing piece with some like-sized metal art lump. The Moore, a conveniently easy steal, will by now be in Spain, having its soft edges hardened and straightened, being painted black, whilst they pray that nobody notices the change from steel to bronze once the Serra is miraculously re-discovered.

And they think they can pull the wool over our eyes!