Shows
Vanishing PointThe National Gallery Heist of 1961In this episode, Emma tells Olivia about the 1961 theft of Francisco Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. This story takes us through flamboyant ransom letters, the question of television licenses, and of one man's journey as a rebel looking for his cause. “When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk...
2025-08-1853 minVanishing PointThe Transylvania University Rare Book HeistIn this episode, Olivia tells Emma the wild story of the rare book heist that took place at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004. “I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.” - Donna Tartt, The Secret HistoryFollow us on http://instagram.com/vanishingpointpodhttps://vanishingpointpod.substack.com/SourcesAmerican Animals. Directed by Bart Layton. Film4Productions. 2018“Joh...
2025-08-1158 minVanishing PointThe Mona Lisa Part II: A Commodity AppearsIn our final episode on the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, we catch back up with Picasso and Apollinaire who have just been arrested. We explore the truth of the theft and its perpetrator, growing tensions on the world stage as Europe prepares for war, an Argentine criminal art magnate, a French forger with an unlikely technique, and conspiracies born from the media spectacle of the case. “Everywhere one seeks to produce meaning, to make the world signify, to render it visible. We are not, however, in danger of lacking meaning; quite the contrary, we are gorged wit...
2025-07-291h 01Vanishing PointThe Mona Lisa Part I: The Perfect Crime of the Modernist EraIn this episode, we travel back in time to Paris in 1911 to the Louvre where one of the most iconic paintings of all time is discovered missing: the Mona Lisa. In the first episode of our two-part series, we explore the inception of the painting and its captivating hold on both kings and museum viewers alike, la Belle Époque and the art movements that arose, the advent of photojournalism and sensationalism in the media, and a dastardly gang of punk artists and poets challenging the status quo of the art world. Thanks for listening!“The picture becomes mor...
2025-07-2158 minVanishing PointBONUS: The Gardner Heist ConspiraciesToday we bring you our first Vanishing Point bonus episode! In this episode, we decided to take a trip down the internet rabbit hole and read some conspiracy theories about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist. We explore how conspiracies come to fruition, discuss some favorites, and then explore some theories about Harvard University, FBI agents gone rogue, underwater art vaults, and stolen De Koonings. Thanks for listening!For even more bonus fun, take a drink every time Emma says "proliferate".“Those who can make people believe absurdities, can make people commit atrocities.”― VoltaireF...
2025-06-301h 05Vanishing PointThe Gardner Heist Part III: Gangsters and GodsIn this episode, we introduce the possibility of Irish involvement in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, discussing the IRA, a British heiress turned bomb maker, and the infamous Whitey Bulger. We also circle back to Italian mobsters in the Boston crime underworld, where we end our tale, from golden boy mobsters to cocaine rings in auto body shops where stolen art was stashed. Thanks for listening!“Gangsters and gods do not speak, they nod their heads and all is done” - Mythologies, Roland BarthesFollow us on http://instagram.com/vanish...
2025-06-2352 minVanishing PointThe Gardner Heist Part II: A Cast of CharactersIn this episode, we take you step by step through the Gardner Heist, from the minute Richard Abath opened the door to let in the thieves, to Gardner director Anne Hawley and the Boston police discovering the scene of the crime We also introduce our bizarre and notorious cast of characters, including a Lynchian art detective with a prosthetic nose, a rock and roller with a knack for art theft, and the infamous Italian mob scene in Boston. Thanks for listening!“Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of too hasty guesses at...
2025-06-1655 minVanishing PointThe Gardner Heist Part I: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Richard AbathIn this episode, we introduce the Gardner Heist and two important figures in our story: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Richard Abath. We begin with Isabella's conception of the museum, her place within Bostonian culture and the Gilded Age in the 1800s; then we head to 1990 to meet one of our museum guards present at the night of the infamous heist, Richard Abath. We're taking you from Lithuania under the Russian empire to Connecticut to see the Grateful Dead play. Thanks for listening! Trigger warning: there is a brief mention of suicide but no further discussion.“Mod...
2025-06-0937 minVanishing PointWelcome to Vanishing PointWelcome to Vanishing Point, a podcast about the art and philosophy of art thefts and forgery. In this episode, we introduce ourselves and what led to the formation of this podcast. We also introduce our first case: The Isabella Stewart Gardner museum heist of 1990, which is considered one of the largest unsolved art heists in the world. Our story involves Italian mobsters, IRA arms dealings, Boston Brahmins and lost Rembrandts. “Perspective makes the single eye the centre of the visible world. Everything converges on to the eye as to the vanishing point of infinity. The visible wor...
2025-06-0213 min