A painter gets to know the criminal who stole her works in an intimate and electrically charged study of artist and muse
In 2015, a pair of thieves broke into an Oslo art gallery in broad daylight and stole two hyperrealist paintings by the Czech painter Barbora Kysilkova. It was reported on Norwegian news as a brazen heist by master criminals, but the thieves failed to spot CCTV cameras and were soon arrested. The ringleader, a heavily tattooed heroin addict called Karl Bertil-Nordland, was put on trial. In court, Kysilkova walked over and asked him why he stole her paintings. There’s an audio recording of his answer: “Because they were beautiful.” She invited him to pose for a portrait – after he got out of
prison.
So begins this astonishing, emotionally electric documentary about the unexpected friendship between artist and thief. In her studio, while painting Norland, Kysilkova grills him about the whereabouts of her missing paintings. He insists he can’t remember what he did with them; he was totally wasted at the time. Norland is intelligent and charismatic with a self-destructive streak that goes back to a traumatic childhood. But he’s not afraid to show his feelings. There’s an extraordinary moment when he sees Kysilkova’s portrait of him for the first time. Raw with emotion, he weeps, trembling. The expression on his face says it all: “Finally, I have been seen.”