A picture, taken from a catalogue, of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's aquarelle "The Blue Dress". Three works by Munch have been stolen from a hotel in southeastern Norway, six months after the painter's masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" were swiped from an Oslo museum.

    BEIJING, Mar. 8 -- Three stolen works of art by Edvard Munch were recovered Monday, less than 24 hours after thieves with crowbars pried them from the walls of an upscale restaurant, according to a report by the Associalted Press.

    

A portrait of Swedish artist August Strindberg by Edvard Munch

It was the second theft of the Norwegian master's work in less than seven months. The regained paintings includes a unique watercolor entitled "Blue Dress".  

    Oslo police also made several arrests in the case.

    Munch's tortured tableaus have proven to be quite a draw for Norway's art thieves. In August, priceless Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" were stolen from a museum in a brazen daylight raid. They have yet to be recovered.

    The three pieces stolen Sunday night from the restaurant at the upscale Hotel Refnes were valued at about $257,000.

    The most valuable ¨C the 1915 watercolor "Blue Dress" ¨C is worth as much as $160,857, Munch expert and auctioneer Knut Forsberg said.

    The other two are lithographs and include a self-portrait and a portrait of Swedish artist August Strindberg.

    Munch developed an emotionally charged painting style that helped launch the 20th Century Expressionist movement. He died in 1944 at the age of 80, having produced some 1,700 paintings and 30,000 prints. Enditem

(Agencies)