International Clown Week: Laugh, Clown, Laugh

Art theft closes out International Clown Week.

The Joker attempts to divert attention from his painting pilfering by tossing pies at the police.

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work.

While Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a fictional piece of art the Joker attempts to steal, there are many famous clown paintings.

Master of modern art Pablo Picasso crafted Harlequin Head, a piece stolen in 2012 as part of the heist of the century. Stolen from the Kunsthal Museum, the Picasso piece was the most famous of the seven works still missing. The thieves were apprehended, but the Harlequin is feared to have been destroyed.

The master is also known for his The Blue Clown. Appropriately enough, it is symbolic of Picasso’s Blue Period.

Other well known artists noted for their work regarding the joyful jesters include Antoine Watteau, Claude Gillot, Francisco Goya, Honore Daumier, Gustavo Courbet, George’s Seurat, James Ensor, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Andre Derain, Vino Severini, Max Beckmann, Pa Hooper and Walt Kuhn.

Maybe the most notorious was John Wayne Gacy. His penchant for portraying a clown – Pogo – prior to his arrest may have led to his choice of subjects while painting on death row.

Convicted of murdering 33 adolescent males, the infamous serial killer used a portion of his 14 years behind bars creating over 2,000 paintings.

His somewhat self portrait, Pogo the Clown, sold for $12,800 Oct. 31, 2022.

Gacy received his lethal injection May 10, 1994.