Which Rembrandt painting was stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990?

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee was stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.

Painted in 1633, the work illustrates the New Testament story in which Jesus and his disciples are caught in a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee. Rembrandt filled the boat with movement and alarm, and the composition is unusual because it includes a self-portrait: one of the figures is traditionally identified as the artist himself.

On 18 March 1990, two men disguised as police officers entered the museum after midnight. They restrained the guards and removed thirteen works, including Rembrandt’s painting. The theft remains unsolved, and the empty frames are still displayed in the museum as reminders of the missing works.

The painting is often confused with other marine scenes by Dutch artists, but it is Rembrandt’s only known seascape. Its disappearance has made it one of the best-known missing paintings in the world.