He stole the scream and hid it in the living room table

Pal Enger, a talented Norwegian footballer turned famous art thief, pulled off the sensational 1994 theft of Edvard Munch’s famous painting. The Scream Enger’s painting, which was in the National Gallery in Oslo, died at the age of 57. Tina Wulf, press officer for Valerenga Fotball, a prominent Oslo soccer club for which Enger played as a teenager, told the AP Tuesday that he died Saturday night. Wulf said he had been in contact with Valerenga earlier this summer. Citing family sources, the Norwegian newspaper Daily Bulletin Enger was sentenced to prison at the age of 19 before embarking on a long series of art and jewelry thefts in 1988, when he collapsed through a window of the Munch Museum in Oslo and stole the artist’s painting. Love and pain.

More dramatically, on February 12, 1994, the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Enger managed to steal the show. The Scream From the National Gallery. During the 50-second heist, captured on security camera, two thieves climbed a ladder, smashed a window and made off with the painting, then estimated to be worth at least $55 million. They left a postcard that read: “Thanks for the lack of security.” News of the theft made headlines around the world, and after his capture, Enger became an instant national celebrity in Norway, with documentaries and an international television series devoted to his story. The painting was found intact after Enger confessed to hiding it in a secret compartment in a living room table in his family’s home.

Enger has been convicted multiple times for art theft and other drug-related offenses over the decades. In 1999, he escaped from a minimum-security prison and tormented police by showing up at a celebrity cafe in Oslo and giving interviews. He was later arrested again after attracting attention by wearing sunglasses at night. The self-proclaimed art lover hasn’t stopped stealing either. In 2015, he was charged with stealing 17 paintings from an Oslo gallery. According to Norwegian media, police arrested him after he left his wallet and ID at the scene. Former lawyer Nils Christian Nordhus, quoted by Daily Bulletindescribed Enger as a “gentlemanly” thief who “will be missed by many” in his home country.

(More stories from The Scream.)