Venus Over Manhattan: Art heist at UES gallery snags Dali painting
An art thief managed to lift a famed painting off the wall of an Upper East Side gallery and walk out the door unnoticed.
The thief, who was captured on surveillance video, went after Salvadore Dali’s “Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio” at Venus Over Manhattan gallery on Wednesday afternoon. He reportedly told a security guard that he wanted to photograph the painting. The guard told him he could, as long as he didn’t use a flash. The guard then walked away, distracted by another gallery patron, and the thief made his move.
After the thief lifted the Dali from the wall, he slipped it into a shopping bag and left the gallery, according to the New York Post.
The watercolor-and-ink painting, worth about $150,000, was created by Dali in 1949. It was selected for Venus Over Manhattan by the gallery’s owner, art dealer Adam Lindemann.
The crook is described as a white man, 5-foot-6, 160 pounds and 35 to 42 years old, wearing a black and white checkered shirt. 
