Boris Mikhailov Photograph Stolen From Vilnius Museum in Suspected Targeted Theft
A photograph by Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov (b. 1938) has been stolen from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius, in what museum officials believe was a deliberate theft. The work disappeared on June 28 from the Radvila Palace Museum of Art, where it was on view in the exhibition “Ukrainian Dreamers: Kharkiv School of Photography.”
Museum staff discovered the photograph missing from a second-floor gallery shortly after 1:30 p.m., but the suspected thief had already left the building. The incident was captured on security cameras, and Lithuanian police are investigating. Museum director general Arūnas Gelūnas said officials suspect the work was singled out because Mikhailov is the exhibition’s most prominent artist and one of its most valuable.
The stolen image comes from Mikhailov’s 1993 series “At Dusk,” one of 111 hand-tinted panoramic photographs he made in Kharkiv after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The series is known for its unsparing view of post-Soviet hardship, including food lines, abandoned buildings, and deteriorating infrastructure. Mikhailov, represented by Marian Goodman Gallery, is widely considered one of Eastern Europe’s most influential photographers. His honors include the Hasselblad Award and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Authorities have valued the photograph at about €7,000, or roughly $8,200. Gelūnas said the museum had not reported a theft in more than 20 years, and that the last missing work was never recovered. The institution is now reviewing how it protects smaller objects on display.
The theft also lands against a broader backdrop of museum robberies across Europe, where security lapses have drawn fresh scrutiny. For museums, the challenge is increasingly clear: the most vulnerable works are not always the largest or most famous, but the ones easiest to remove quietly.
