Last Seen ... (Flinck, Landscape with an Obelisk)

French conceptual artist Sophie Calle’s „Last Seen …“ is reminiscent of a spectacular art theft case, that, to this day, has remained unresolved. In March 1990, two men, disguised as policemen, managed to penetrate into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, overpowered and bound the guardians, and stole thirteen artworks, chief among them paintings from Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Rembrandt van Rijn, Govert Flinck, and Jan Vermeer. Due to the late founder’s last will and testament, imposing that the hanging of the pictures remain unchanged under all circumstances, the to this day empty, robbed frames visually recall the missing pieces in the collection. Sophie Calle, whose work revolves around absence and remembrance, took this situation as a starting point for “Last Seen”. She interviewed employees from different departments of the museum, and questioned them regarding their recollections concerning the stolen artworks. She then combined the written statements with photographs of the original, now vacant place of the respective artwork. The artwork at hand is dedicated to the painting “Landscape with Obelisk” dating from 1638, created by the Dutch painter Govert Flinck. The interviewees’ memories range from descriptions, to personal sentiments, to subjective verdicts. Those recollections may not be an actual substitute for the stolen painting, but, via memories and narrations, see to its continuing persistence.