Nearly 50 works of art have reportedly disappeared in the municipality of Maashorst due to poor storage and oversight

A Dutch town hall has said it may have accidentally disposed of dozens of works of art, including a piece by famed artist Andy Warhol, during recent renovation works, according to local broadcaster Omroep Brabant.

The municipality of Maashorst said on Thursday that the works of art had been stored in a basement during extensive renovations of the town hall last year.

An investigation commissioned by the municipality found that 46 works - among them a rare 1980s silkscreen of former Dutch royal Queen Beatrix by Warhol - had gone missing, "most likely" ending up with bulk waste and unlikely to be recovered.

According to the investigation, there were no policies or procedures in place for handling the works during the renovation. Some pieces were loaned to a local museum, others returned to the artists, while those placed in the town hall's basement became damaged.

The response was also reportedly slow once the works were found to be missing. The Warhol piece, estimated at around 22,000 ($25,000), was last seen in September 2023, the report said.

Maashorst Mayor Hans van der Pas told the Omroep Brabant the artwork must have ended up with the bulk waste sometime during that period. "This is no way to treat valuable items," he said. "But it happened. We regret it."

Warhol, widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, created the print as part of his 1985 'Reigning Queens' series - two years before his death. The series features 16 colorful silkscreen prints portraying four monarchs: Elizabeth II of the UK, Beatrix of the Netherlands, Margrethe II of Denmark, and Ntombi Twala of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). He based the works on official state portraits chosen for their mass circulation on stamps, currency, and other public media.

In a separate incident last November, several of Warhol's Reigning Queens silkscreens were stolen during an overnight break-in at the MPV Gallery in the Dutch province of North Brabant.

Thieves initially took four prints from the series but abandoned two nearby. The stolen works depicted Queen Elizabeth II and Margrethe II of Denmark, while prints of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Twala of Eswatini were left behind because they reportedly did not fit in the getaway car.08:59hello Jay, many thanks