BRUSSELS (AP).- Police say two armed robbers have stolen a painting by Belgian artist Rene Magritte from a small museum in Brussels.
Brussels city police spokesman Johan Berckmans says the two men escaped with the 1948 "Olympia" oil painting by car on Thursday. The nude portrait of the surrealist's wife, Georgette, is valued at euro750,000 ($1.1 million).
The painting hung at Magritte's former house which has been turned into a small museum. Entry is by appointment only. It is separate from a larger Magritte museum that opened this year.
The painting depicts the painter's wife, Georgette, lying on her back with a shell on her stomach.
The Art Loss Register has 19 artworks by Magritte registered on the database, 8 of which are currently missing. In 2007, a Magritte painting went missing in transit, only for it to be recovered shortly afterwards by police.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
