AN ART gallery was reunited with two of its most cherished treasures yesterday when police announced the recovery of Edvard Munch’s stolen masterpieces, The Scream and Madonna.

Putting an end to two years of angst and anger after a robbery in Norway, police said that both works appeared to be in good condition.

“I am almost crying from happiness,” said Gro Balas, who is chairwoman of the board of the Munch Museum in Oslo, from where the paintings were stolen in August 2004. “They have been given a cursory examination, but for now I am content just to feel overjoyed,” she said. Iver Stensrud, who led what was one of the biggest inquiries by Norwegian police, described the find yesterday as a happy day for artlovers.

“For two years and nine days we have been hunting systematically for these pictures and . . . they came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action,” he said.

“I saw them myself today, and there was nothing like the damage that could have been feared. All that remains is an expert examination to confirm with 100 per cent certainty that these are the original paintings. We believe they are,” he said. Museum experts later confirmed their authenticity.

The Scream was taken from the Munch Museum by two masked gunmen, who threatened guards and 80 visitors before ripping the work off the wall. They also walked away with Madonna, which Munch produced in the same year as The Scream, 1893.

Mr Stensrud refused to give details of the police operation, but said that it had not involved payment of the 2 million kroner (£170,000) reward offered by Oslo City Council, which owns the paintings.

Although an international police hunt was mounted, Norwegian detectives believe that the masterpieces never left the country. “We feel we have been hot on the trail the whole time, but it has taken time,” Mr Stensrud said.

In May three Norwegians were jailed for eight, seven and four years by Oslo District Court for their role in acquiring and preparing the getaway car used by the robbers. Two of the men were also ordered to pay Kr750 million in compensation to Oslo council — a debt that the judge said would hang over them for the rest of their lives. Three other suspects were acquitted.

Mr Stensrud said that none of the defendants had offered information that had helped to find the missing paintings. He said that the two gunmen who carried out the robbery had not been caught.

Detectives worked on the theory that the paintings may have been taken on the orders of a Norwegian gangland boss who had wanted to distract police from a bank robbery in which a police officer was killed. Art experts said that The Scream and Madonna were so instantly recognisable that it would have been virtually impossible to sell them.

Munch, who died in 1944 at the age of 80, painted four versions of The Scream as part of his Frieze of Life series.

One was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo in 1994 by a gang hoping for a ransom. However, officials refused to pay and the thieves abandoned the work a few months later.

The National Gallery and the Munch Museum say that they have since upgraded their security substantially.

MISSING MASTERPIECES

Leonardo Madonna of the Yarnwinder 1500: Two men posing as tourists stole the picture, worth between £30 million and £60 million, from Duke of Buccleuch's home in Drumlanrig Castle, Scotland in 2003.

Van Gogh Portrait of Dr Gachet 1890: Sold to Japanese industrialist Ryoie Saito for a record £49.7 million in 1990. Saito said, he later claimed as a joke, that he wanted to be cremated with the painting. He died in 1996 and the portrait has not been seen since

Lucian Freud Portrait of Francis Bacon, 1952: Stolen from German museum l988.

Dalí Crucifixion 1965: Donated by Dalí to a New York prison in 1965. Stolen during 2003 fire drill and replaced by copy

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