(Groningen) The precious painting by Vincent Van Gogh stolen and then sensationally returned to a Dutch detective in an IKEA bag was scratched, but should be restorable, the director of the museum to which the work belongs told AFP on Wednesday.

Thieves stole Van Gogh’s painting The Nuenen Presbytery Garden in Spring in the middle of the night in 2020. The painting had been loaned to a museum near Amsterdam by the Groningen Museum, in the north of the Netherlands.

The painting, estimated to be worth up to 6 million euros ($8.7 million), was returned Monday to Arthur Brand, nicknamed “the Indiana Jones of the art world” for his research work and recovery of stolen works.

The detective took possession of the painting wrapped in bubble wrap and a pillowcase and put it in a blue IKEA bag, but the work was scratched.

“It is not in perfect condition, but it is restorable,” Groningen museum director Andreas Bluhm told AFP.

“When it was in the IKEA bag […] it was hot, so it’s not ideal. He had already suffered for three and a half years,” he continued.

But “putting it in that same bag is completely safe, because it’s the least visible way to move it. No one could have suspected anything,” he conceded.

The painting is now being examined at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and it could be “months, even weeks” before it is accessible to the public again, he said.

But the fact that the Dutch master painted the work on paper glued to a thick piece of wood rather than on canvas gives hope for a successful restoration, as the scratches should be superficial.

Mr Bluhm said he experienced an emotional roller coaster between the theft and recovery of the painting which had been on loan to the museum near Amsterdam.

“The painting is part of the identity of our museum,” he said, stressing that the theft had been a “massive blow”.

Even the announcement last Thursday of a possible return gave him sleepless nights.

“They said to me ‘please come to Amsterdam to identify the painting’. I said “OK, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

When the painting was finally identified, he went straight to the Van Gogh museum to give them a big surprise.

“I called and said, ‘I’m coming, are you there? Can you open the door and let me in. I have something for you.”