Located about an hour north of New York City in Mountainville, NY Storm King Art Center is a fascinating mix of art and nature. The 500-acre property was founded in 1960, and is open from April to November.

It is a sprawling exhibition of more than 100 sculptures and installations, which includes massive works by well known artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Serra and Maya Lin as well as smaller pieces by lesser-known names.

We visited the center last fall and an afternoon walking through the property was a cross between a beautiful, leisurely hike and visiting a top-notch museum.

One of the first pieces we were greeted with was "The Arch" by Alexander Calder.

We followed the paths through the picturesque grounds...

Which led us to "Endless Column" by Tal Streeter.

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John Constable's "The Lock" sold for $35 million, a record for the artist and one of the most expensive British paintings ever sold, according to ArtInfo.

The painting was sold by Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Spanish Baroness, through Christie's auction house.

Her decision to sell the painting caused an uproar in her home country, with people calling it  called it a "moral shame" that it would leave Spain, according to The Telegraph.

One member of the board of the Madrid art museum where the painting had hung even resigned in protest.

The baroness claimed she decided to sell the 1824 masterpiece in order to make some needed cash during Spain's liquidity crisis. She had acquired it as part of a collection from her late husband, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.

The buyer of the painting remains unknown.

DON'T MISS: The 10 Most Outrageous Luxury Items Rich People Bought In June >

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You can go to MoMA or The Louvre, but sometimes you'll find great art where you wouldn't expect to find much of anything.

Such is the case in Western Siberia, where scientists hoping to create an eco-tourism route stumbled across a giant mosquito sculpture on a gas company's property in Noyabrsk, Russia.

The sculpture is by Valery Chaliy, who built it on a property in Noyabrsk, Russia owned by gas firm Gazprom — one of the five largest energy producers in Russia

Noyabrsk, Russia lies in the oil fields of Western Siberia. The town has a population of 100,000. It was founded as a work settlement in the 1970s.

Source: The Huffington Post

The mosquito is about 16 feet tall at its apex, according to the photographer

Source: Live Journal

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Today is the birthday of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. If she were still alive today, she'd be 105 years old.

Kahlo is known for her colorful self-portraits that prominently portray her most striking feature: her eyebrows.

But her paintings are often defined by events that happened in her life: as a teenager in 1925 she was seriously injured in a traumatic bus accident and in 1929 she married fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Their volatile marriage was marred by adultery, miscarriages and fighting.

Kahlo's work is also intrinsically Mexican, depicting the indigenous traditions and culture of the nation she loved so much. In fact, she was so proud of her Mexican heritage that she often told people that she was born on July 7, 1910 (the date of the Mexican revolution)--even though she was actually born three years earlier, on July 6th, 1907.

Today, Kahlo's works are displayed in museums around the world, but many of her works reside permanently at the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.

To honor her birthday, we've compiled a few pictures of some of her most iconic paintings.

"Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" (1940). Kahlo is famous for her self-portraits. She once said "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."

"Me and My Parrots/Yo y mis pericos" (1941). Kahlo's brow--her signature feature--is portrayed prominently in all of her self-portraits.

"The Broken Column" (1944). In 1925, Kahlo was caught in a horrific bus accident that left her with a broken spinal column, broken collarbone, broken ribs, and a broken pelvis. She spent months recovering in a full body cast.

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If Andy Warhol is known as the leading figure in the pop art movement of the latter half of the 20th century, perhaps we could wish pop art a happy 50th birthday today.

July 9 is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition being opened in Los Angeles. It was his first solo exhibition featuring 32 canvas silkscreen prints; one for each of the Campbell's Soup flavors back in 1962.

That exhibition helped grow Warhol's popularity and spurred the culture-driven pop art movement to really explode over the next two decades.

Marla Prather, the Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York wondered how it was possible that Warhol's breakout exhibit was "introduced to the world half a century ago." She told Business Insider that "they are still as fresh and relevant as the year they were silkscreened."

It was not just the pop cultural nature of the work that had the artistic world buzzing but, as Prather noted, "the radical nature of the instillation, arranged in a row like a supermarket shelf, was as prescient as almost anything Warhol dreamt up in those early crucial years."

Building off the success of Campbell's Soup Cans, Warhol continued to make art based on popular culture. His 1963 work Eight Elvises sold for $100 million in 2008, the highest price for any piece of art composed after 1960. Warhol made dozens of other pieces of art based on American icons like Coca-Cola, Marylin Monroe and Muhammad Ali and is considered one of the most influential artists over the last century.

Now see photos of Andy Warhol working in the Factory before he was famous >

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Billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales is an avid art collector who owns an incredible 25,000-square-foot art gallery at his Glenstone estate in Potomac, Md.

Rales, the co-founder of manufacturing company Danaher, who is worth $3.7 billion, desperately wants to expand the gallery and make it more accessible to the public, according to The Washington Post. There's just one problem: Rales can't get a sewer hookup for Glenstone, and this minor detail is derailing all of his plans.

Glenstone is located in a part of Montgomery County where sewers are banned. Rales has already requested access via a 3,000-foot sewer line from the county's planning board, but his request was ultimately struck down in May, the Post reports.

The Montgomery County Council is reviewing the planning board's decision and will vote at the end of July, so there is still a chance for approval.

Until then, Rales is reaching out to his gallery visitors for help in obtaining sewer access for Glenstone.

“Please help,” read an email sent out to visitors, according to the Post. “We are planning to further our mission by expanding our galleries and landscape, increase our hours, and offer more visitors the option of spending time with us — always free of charge. In order to facilitate this expansion, Glenstone is seeking to connect to public sewer.”

Visitors have answered Rales' calls by sending letters to the County Council. In fact, the council has received a "three-inch stack" of letters all lobbying for Rales' cause.

The Post spoke to Rales about publicizing Glenstone — the first time Rales has talked to the media in 27 years.

“I sit here and I say to myself, ‘I am 55 years old, I have had an incredible amount of good fortune in my life.’ I have had to make some choices about how to bestow some of that good fortune back to the world,” Rales said to the Post.

Now, meet some other famous art collectors >

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that financier Leon Black is the buyer of Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which sold for a record-breaking $120 million at an auction in early May.

It cites as sources "several people close to the collector." Reps for Black reportedly declined to comment.

Black, the founder of Apollo Global Management, is known as one of the most powerful art collectors on Wall Street, with a collection worth some $750 million, according to the WSJ's Kelly Crow.

The financier, who is worth an estimated $3.5 billion, focuses on collecting Old Masters, Impressionism, modern painting, Chinese sculpture, and contemporary art. He also sits on the boards of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, raising questions as to where the painting will ultimately wind up.

The art world has been attempting for months to guess the mystery buyer of the painting, which set auction records when it sold at Sotheby's after a 12-minute bidding battle May 2. The 1895 work was sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbor and patron of Munch, the artist.

According to the WSJ, Black began collecting art as a teenager, and unlike other wealthy art collectors who have put their collections on public display, prefers to keep his acquisitions close to home.

While he is primarily known as a collector of drawings, in 2005, Black reportedly paid $27 million for Constantin Brancusi's "Bird in Space," at the time a record for a sculpture.

In March he and his wife Debra, a Broadway producer, donated $48 million to Dartmouth, his alma mater, for the construction of a visual arts center.

Now meet the 10 biggest art collectors of 2012 >

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As you fumble through a dark room, light peeps through a hole in the wall. When you peer through, a young naked woman is bathing.

While this scene sounds like something from a creepy movie, it's actually a museum exhibit at The National Gallery in London by Turner prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger.

In the exhibit, called "Diana," patrons of the museum navigate a dark gallery and peep through holes in the wall to see a naked woman bathing or brushing her hair, according to The Huffington Post. 

Six real women, all named Diana in real life, portray the "goddess-like" woman, switching off every two hours.

"Diana" is a part of Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, a tribute to the Venetian master Titian. "Diana" is the most controversial and modern exhibit in the exhibition.

The museum is filled with portraits of male and female nudes of the past, and this exhibit skyrockets the museum to modern day.

DON'T MISS: Here's What It's Like To Eat In Complete Darkness, Served By Blind Waiters >

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Read the original post on Oyster.com.

There’s a reason tourists flock to museums while on vacation: time goes by way too fast in the real world for individuals to set hours to wander an art gallery.

And even if vacay is prime time to explore various museums wherever you may be, the galleries often come with long lines and pushy crowds.

Thankfully, hotels are responding to the masses’ hunt for artistic expression. From intimate collections to large-scale galleries, many hotels play host to some excellent exhibitions with works by legends like Andy Warhol, Alison Shotz, and Henri Matisse, as well as up-and-coming local artists.

Get your sketchpads out — it’s time for a little artistic inspiration.

The James Chicago

One of Chicago’s top luxury hotels, The James’ sometimes quirky aesthetic is modern, minimalist, and clever. Its appreciation of art and design is present throughout the lobby, which hosts small exhibitions such as Dan Gunn’s pieces, seen above, and in its two art galleries.

Both local and international, renowned and up-and-coming artists can find their way into the James, whose dedication to creative expression stems from the artsy River North area it calls home.

The St. Regis San Francisco

Just steps from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the African Diaspora (which also as an entrance in the hotel lobby), the St. Regis extends the vibe of its artsy neighbors to its premises. Its private art collection, which is displayed throughout the hallways, lobby, bar, and restaurant, truly turns the hotel into a mini-museum in its own right.

Featuring the works of contemporary artists such as Alison Rossiter, Hans Shule, Mari-Ruth Oda, and Chip Cooper, the hotel exudes a clean, 21st century aesthetic without being cold. The works are interesting, chosen carefully for each setting, and successful at raising the bar when it comes to hotel art.

The Egerton House Hotel — London

This exquisite historical townhouse in the upscale London neighborhood of Knightsbridge boasts an opulent and elegant design aesthetic, as well as luxury features such as champagne on arrival and candles at turndown. And its art isn’t too shabby, either. 

Egerton House’s notable collection, known as Art at the Edge, includes original works by Picasso, Chagall, and Matisse. Displayed throughout the hotel, the collection also includes original lithographs from Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec and turn-of-the-century prints from the Illustrated London News, which ran from 1842 to 1971. This historical and artistic treasure trove is the perfect place to soak in some culture over a cup of tea on your way to Harrod’s or a pint after a long business trip.

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An FBI sting operation in Miami led to the recovery of a Matisse painting entitled “Odalisque in Red Pants” owned by the Sofia Imber Museum of Modern Art in Caracas. The FBI agents posed as customers willing to buy the painting from a couple whose name has yet to be disclosed by the FBI.

The story started in 2002 when it was discovered that the Matisse hanging in the museum wall was a fake, after the Chavez administration had changed the board of the museum a couple of years earlier, including Ms. Imber, who had run it from its beginning (and purchased this particular painting for a relatively low price).

Initially there were accusations that the painting had disappeared after the management change, but others have suggested that the switch took place even before that, when the painting was lent to a Spanish exhibit in 1997. However, those at the museum until the management change have stated privately that they would have certainly noticed the switch. The current director of the museum has suggested it was an inside job, without ever explaining her statement.

RELATED: What do you know about Hugo Chavez?

The switch was discovered when a collector was offered the painting in 2001-2002 and began performing due diligence on the painting and wrote to the director of the museum. This led the museum to check the painting and the discovery that the one hanging in Caracas was a fake. The painting was offered to a number of collectors and rumors that it was for sale have recurred over the years.

Hopefully, with the recovery of the painting the full story of the switcheroo will be revealed and those responsible prosecuted.

For now, this is another picturesque (pun intended) story of the always devious Venezuelans in Government (no matter when the switch took place) always looking for an angle that will make them rich overnight.

– Miguel Octavio, a Venezuelan, is not a fan of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. You can read his blog here.

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In this video, produced by the Telegraph, Czech artist David Cerny his statue featuring a bus doing push-ups is "actually meant for all fat Americans, they could sort of exercise to get skinnier".

Cerny's "London Boosted" sculpture will remain outside the Czech Olympics site during the games.

WATCH:

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There is something almost otherworldly about viewing art in the outdoors. Strolling among large-scale sculptures dotting acres of rolling hills can have a certain sci-fi quality, the looming constructions seemingly rising out of the dirt to claim their stake.

(Needless to say, it’s easy to let your mind get carried away.) It’s an experience that calls on all the senses, and it can be had in myriad places around the world.

Click here to see the world's best sculpture parks >

It’s no secret that art and nature have enjoyed an intimate long-term relationship since, essentially, both came into being. Thankfully, pairing the two—whether on 18th-century estate grounds in Wakefield, England (Yorkshire Sculpture Park), or on 227 acres in the capital city of China’s Jilin Province (Changchun World Sculpture Park)—still has a way of feeling novel. Pieces with no apparent connection to the outdoors settle into hills, dales, thickets and gardens. The elements also play a key role; no matter how you feel about a sculpture, your perception invariably shifts in blazing heat, freezing cold, drizzling rain or dappled sunlight.   

Viewing these art collections also gives you a fascinating glimpse into the history and personality of a city. Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway, is the handiwork of a single artist, Gustav Vigeland, who worked on everything from its 200-plus sculptures to the landscaping and arrangement of the works along its roughly half-mile-long stretch. Chianti Sculpture Park in Siena, Italy, on the other hand, showcases a variety of pieces hailing from 25 different countries in materials ranging from glass to bronze and steel to granite.

These outdoor exhibits are also occasionally part of a larger mission. The nine acres that make up Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, Washington, are courtesy of a collaboration between the Seattle Art Museum and the Trust for Public Land, which set out to preserve the untouched waterfront site. The result? An eye-opening public space that begs to be explored—just like rest of the parks on this list.

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Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York

Recognized as one the best sculpture parks in the country—if not the world—Storm King and its 500 acres of rolling hills and woods house more than 100 sculptures. While many pieces are done in steel, you’ll find stone (like Andy Goldsworthy’s Five Men, Seventeen Days, Fifteen Boulders, One Wall) and other mediums,

as well as pieces by artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg and Sol LeWitt. Special exhibits rotate in and out, so the permanent collection is routinely augmented with new things to see. An entire afternoon here goes by before you know it. Old Pleasant Hill Rd.; 845-534-3115; stormkingartcenter.org.

Vigeland Park, Oslo, Norway

While many outdoor sculpture collections cherry-pick from a host of different artists, Oslo’s massive Vigeland Park is the handiwork of one: Gustav Vigeland. From the more than 200 pieces displayed—Vigeland favored wrought iron, granite and bronze—to the landscaping and arrangement of the sculptures, the artist spearheaded the entire process. (The park was completed between 1939 and 1949.)

Stroll its 2,800-foot length and acquaint yourself with well-known works such as Vigeland’s rendering of a stomping-angry little boy or his famous piece The Wheel of Life. The figures practically vibrate with energy—you half expect them to hop down and run away. Nobels Gate 32; 47-23/493-700; vigeland.museum.no.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England

Located on the Bretton Estate, which dates back to the 18th century, Yorkshire Sculpture Park houses five indoor galleries on 500 acres of land, with no less than 60 sculptures on display at any given time. Restoring the historic grounds is an ongoing project, and the lakes and woods opened to the public (more than 300,000 people visit annually) last summer.

What began as a 31-sculpture exhibition 33 years ago has grown into a preeminent park, featuring artists like Anthony Caro, Henry Moore, William Turnbull and Isamu Noguchi and rotating exhibitions, including the first sizable showing in the UK of sculpture by Joan Miró (through January 1, 2013). West Bretton; 44-1924/832-631; ysp.co.uk.

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We stopped in our tracks when coming across these celebrity family portraits done in colored pencil–yes, colored pencils.

From Nic Cage in "Raising Arizona" to Jon Hamm in "Mad Men," we noticed the portraits making the rounds on Reddit and decided to put a name with the many faces drawn.

Now, a professional artist, Kirk Demarais was previously a graphics and greeting card designer before returning to his first love of drawing. You can read more on Demarais' transition to a full-time artist described in his own words, here.

"I started making the colored pencil portraits in 2008 for Gallery 1988's annual Crazy 4 Cult art show in which a group of artists create work inspired by cult films," Demarais told us.

His art has become so well known that he's received commissions from celebrities including Kristen Wiig and executive producer of "Little Miss Sunshine," the Jeb Brody.

Any one portrait can take him anywhere from one and a half to three weeks to complete. 

Demarais believes he's drawn a total of 28 portraits to date, though not all of them contain complete families.

Currently, he's working on a separate piece for this summer's Crazy 4 Cult gallery in New York City.

This Little Miss Sunshine portrait of "The Hoovers" was commissioned by producer Jeb Brody.

No one's ready to drink a milkshake in this portrait of the Plainviews – "There Will Be Blood"

Here are the Griswolds – "National Lampoon's Vacation."

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Liu Bolin is the amazing artist who paints himself into any background.

He has been disguising himself to blend in urban or nature backdrops, creating the illusion of a human chameleon or a ghost. Bolin spends about 10 hours being painted for each work so he perfectly matches the background.

One of Bolin's recent projects includes painting fashion designers to visualize how other creative people – such as Angela Missoni and Jean Paul Gaultier – get lost in their work.

But Bolin's most famous project is 'Hiding In The City' with installments in Beijing, New York and Venice.

We are featuring Bolin's new work and some of his classic pieces in this gallery, courtesy of Liu Bolin and Eli Klein Fine Art.

First, here are a few of his famous photos:

Photos courtesy of Eli Klein Fine Art

He paints himself all over to blend into the background of city scenery.

Photos courtesy of Eli Klein Fine Art

And the result is amazing.

Photos courtesy of Eli Klein Fine Art

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Viktor Vekselberg, one of the world’s richest men, paid £1.7 million for Odalisque, a nude said to be the work of Russian artist Boris Kustodiev.

The price was 10 times the pre-sale estimate and represented the “pure absurdity” of the art market, the court heard.

Soon after the purchase in 2005, experts working for Mr Vekselberg’s arts fund, Aurora, began to cast doubt on the picture’s authenticity. They claimed that Kustodiev’s signature, dated 1919, was done in an aluminium-based pigment not available until after the artist’s death in 1927.

Mr Vekselberg sued Christie’s and today the judge ruled that he was entitled to recover the £1.7 million he paid for the painting. Christie’s must also pay around £1 million in costs.

Following a 20-day hearing, Mr Justice Newey dismissed allegations that Christie’s was negligent or that it misrepresented the painting.

However, he ruled: “I do not think certainty on the point is possible but my task is to determine authenticity on the balance of probabilities and the likelihood, in my view, is that Odalisque is the work of someone other than Kustodiev.

“It follows that Aurora is entitled to cancel its purchase and to recover the money paid for it.”

Christie’s said they were “surprised and disappointed” by the ruling.

A spokesman said: “We welcome the judge’s findings that Christie’s was not negligent. We are surprised and disappointed by his view of the painting’s attribution. We maintain our belief in the attribution to Kustodiev and are considering our options.”

Lawyers for Christie’s argued during the case that Odalisque had a “reliable provenance”, pointing out that the painting featured a distinctive chair known to have been owned by the painter. They also claimed that the pigment used in the signature was available in 1919, albeit not in common usage until the 1930s.

The painting was first sold by Christie’s in 1989 for £19,000, but by the time of the 2005 auction its pre-sale estimate had risen to £180,000-£220,000.

The final sale price of £1.7 million - for what one expert viewed as a “bread and butter picture” by the artist - came at the height of the economic boom. Natalia Kournikova, a Russian art collector who bid unsuccessfully for the painting, said the price was “pure absurdity”.

Christie's claimed that the work was probably "painted to sell quickly" because the artist, then a wheelchair-bound invalid, was desperate for money and struggling to feed his family in post-revolutionary St Petersburg.

James Aldridge, for Christie's, said: "It is not suggested that the painting is a masterpiece, but not every Kustodiev is a masterpiece."

Mr Vekselberg, 56, an oil tycoon, is listed by Forbes magazine as the world’s 64th richest man with a fortune of more than £7 billion.

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The market for rare and desirable stamps has increased worldwide.

Philately – or stamp collecting – is perhaps one of the least likely areas that you might think of making an investment, but if you have a specific interest in this area, there are many gems that can help you to turn a profit.

Spink, the coins, stamps and medals specialist auctioneer, saw a record paid for a stamp sold at auction in the UK within the last two years – a £1 million bid for the 2d blue Post Office Mauritius – and has an exciting sale planned for later this year.

In November, the firm will be selling what it describes as “an outstanding selection of the world’s finest Australian Commonwealth stamps”, which will go on sale after two generations of private collecting. It includes some extremely rare examples and is “one of the world’s largest and most stunning collections of Australian Commonwealth stamps to have ever come on to the market”.

Nick Startup, a stamp specialist at Spink UK, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer such a unique and exceptional collection. The calibre of this collection of Australian Commonwealth stamps has not been seen since the Kilfoyle Collection in the early 1960s.”

Much of the interest in the stamp collecting market in recent years has come from emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Louise Reynolds of the collectables and investment specialist Stanley Gibbons, said: “We are continuing to see an increasing interest from customers in BRIC countries – particularly India and China; the prices of China stamps are changing so fast that we had to adapt our catalogue publishing schedule. We would usually release a China stamp catalogue every five years or so, but having last issued one in December 2006 we have now had to reprice and reissue the catalogue in April last year and again in May this year, as the prices have been rising so fast.”

There is also particular interest in modern “errors” in the UK market, said Ms Reynolds, which are also seeing keen price increases.

She added: “An 'error’ is a stamp that has some flaw in the design or technical features, such as being printed in the wrong colour, bearing a watermark when there shouldn’t be one, the frame element of the design being printed upside down, or the wrong value (price) being printed on the stamp and so on.”

As if proof were needed that the market for rare and desirable stamps has increased worldwide, Spink joined forces with its counterpart Investphila in Switzerland in September last year to increase its reach in Russia and Latin America.

Olivier Stocker, Spink’s chairman and CEO, said: “We were pioneers with our auctions in Hong Kong and Singapore 20 years ago, but we also believe in the formidable potential of the Russian and South American collectables market.

“Additionally, Investphila will further strengthen our market position in the more mature markets of continental Europe, where they have the dominant position in Italy and very strong in Switzerland. We shall also progressively introduce there our collectables expertise in other fields.”

You can access the Stanley Gibbons stamp price indices on Bloomberg, but only if you are a subscriber.

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"Filmmaker, futurist, epiphany addict" Jason Silva has produced a series of videos that combine natural imagery with philosophy.

Silva contacted us after reading our article on a study by Melanie Rudd of Stanford Graduate School of Business on the positive effects on awe . He said his videos were meant to "capture and disseminate AWE itself." We agreed and published his video on patterns to as a demonstration of the theory.

Still the video was only indirectly related to awe. Now Silva has done one better by devoting an entire video to awe. He writes:

As amazing as that study is, it still leaves us with the question, If AWE is good for us, how exactly can we define it? Well this is exactly what my video WILL BE: a visceral representation and explainer of what the study really means....

Check it out:

The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck - by @Jason_Silva from Jason Silva on Vimeo.

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As a growing number of the world’s wealthiest are looking for safe places to store their millions, many are turning to “investments of passion,” including famous works of art, rare collectibles and even wine.

Earlier this year, the sale of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” for $120 million broke the record for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

In 2011, the super-rich spent more than $11 billion on art and more than $5 billion on wine.

But where there’s big money being spent, there is also a big opportunity to rob the wealthy.

“The criminals follow the market and they follow the dollar. And as it moves around the world, that’s where they go,” said former FBI agent Robert Wittman.

(SLIDESHOW: The World's Biggest Art Heists)

Wittman was one of the first FBI agents to specialize in art crime. The FBI now has 14 special agents that are trained to recover high-value stolen cultural property.

Bonnie Magness Gardnier runs the unit and the National Stolen Art File, an online database of missing items with values ranging from $2,000 to tens of millions.

“We have about 7,600 items in the file right now,” Gardnier said. “We do have fine art, but we also have memorabilia things like Elvis’s school ring, documents, letters, pottery, sculptures, jewelry.”

Once stolen, the items move into the black market quickly. However, they do not often stay there.

“The person who stole that artwork knows it’s stolen. He goes to a dealer, antique shop, pawn shop, and turns it into cash,” Gardnier explains. “We don’t require here in the United States that the sale of a work of art have a title document to go with it.”

There are also plenty of buyers around the world who do not care where the collectibles come from. CNBC wealth reporter Robert Frank believes one reason for that could be the wealth being created in China, Russia and Brazil.

“I was talking to a wealth manager that went to the home of a billionaire oligarch who had all of these Picassos: beautiful, classic pieces of art. He said, ‘Where did you get them?’ and the Russian said, ‘I’d rather not say,’” Frank recalled.

Wittman said some art heists are well thought-out plans reminiscent of the "Thomas Crown Affair", while others are crimes of opportunity, carried out by an insider with access to the collection.

Richard Weisman has one of the most respected pop art collections in the country. In September 2009, while he was at his home in Seattle, Weisman said, a thief broke into his Los Angeles home and walked out with a set of Andy Warhol paintings insured for $25 million.

Roxane West inherited hundreds of paintings and thousands of drawings created by her aunt, abstract expressionist painter Shirley Alameda West. Roxane West never expected that the building super, whom she trusted and treated like family, would steal her aunt’s entire collection.

According to the FBI, the losses from elaborate cons and brazen thefts number in the billions every year. That, however, does not seem to be slowing down investors.

“There are now 11 million millionaires in the world and growing, but there are only so many bottles of 1945 Mouton Rothschild that they’ve made,” said Frank. “So you have a growing number of buyers, a shrinking number of collectibles, prices are going to keep going up.”

Click here to see the most expensive works of art ever sold >

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Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss logistics group Euroasia Investment SA plans to build a $100 million tax-free storage facility next to Beijing Capital International Airport to tap the booming Chinese art market.

The company is to replicate its Singapore Freeport model, its chairman said. The port has a maximum-security vault for art, gold and valuables, allowing collectors to store valuables without paying taxes or filling customs forms.

The Beijing Freeport of Culture project is a joint venture between Euroasia and state-backed Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group. The project is part of a government initiative to promote the culture industry and clamp down on art smuggling.

“There will be a kind of public service in charge of authentic works getting in and out,” Tony Reynard, chairman of the Singapore Freeport, said by telephone from Singapore.

The Beijing facility, which is still awaiting its license, should be ready by the middle of 2014, said Reynard. The Freeport is planned to be exempt from import duties, value added tax and consumption tax, amounting to a 34 percent saving, he said.

The 83,000 square-meter (893,405 square feet) facility will be almost three times as large as Singapore’s, where all available space is fully let, he said.

Auction Space

The site will also include exhibition space designed to host international auctions, he said. Executives at Sotheby’s and Christie’s International in Hong Kong were not immediately available for comment. Neither currently holds auctions inside China.

While China boasts more than 1,000 auction houses, the business is plagued by problems of fakes, smuggling and non- payment.

Last year, China overtook the U.S. to become the world’s largest art and antiques market, said a report published by the Netherlands-based European Fine Art Foundation. Auctions in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan raised 9.8 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2011, said the report.

Muse highlights include Manuela Hoelterhoff on arts and Jorg von Uthmann on Paris art.

--Editors: Mark Beech, Jim Ruane.

To contact the writer on the story: Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong at fbalfour@bloomberg.net or on Twitter @frederikbalfour.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.

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A painting by the late pop artist Roy Lichtenstein that disappeared 42 years has turned up in a warehouse in New York City.

Lichtenstein's black and white "Electric Cord" was reported as stolen after it was sent out to be cleaned by owner Leo Castelli in 1970 and never returned.

The painting shows a tightly wound electrical cord. Court papers say it re-emerged last week when the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation notified Castelli's widow, Barbara Castelli, someone was trying to sell it.

Castelli's court filings say the painting recently was on display at a museum in Colombia.

"We're concerned that this painting is just going to disappear," Mrs Castelli's lawyer, Benjamin Semel, said.

A judge on Tuesday signed an order barring the Manhattan warehouse from selling or moving the painting until a hearing next week.

Mrs Castelli, an Italian art historian, only realised the painting should have been part of her inheritance in 2006, when the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation sent out a card featuring a picture of the painting, urging the public to come forward with any information.

On July 24, the foundation told her that a New York gallery had called to authenticate it. It had been shipped from the Quinta Galeria in Bogota, Colombia, according to the court records.

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