So yesterday I had this really interesting idea for a blog topic, but that idea was killed when all of a sudden I was put on assignment in a city two hours away from my desk. Now don't get me wrong. I had a lot of fun out in the field yesterday (I'm a dork, I know), but my post wasn't very interesting as a result. It was hurried and brief and just blah.

So for today I'm going back to my original idea for yesterday which is this:

This painting was stolen from the National Museum in Poznan, Poland, in September 2000. At the time it was stolen, Beach in Pourville was valued at $1 million. The thief, a 41-year-old man from the southern city Olkusz, cut the painting from its frame and replaced it with a cardboard copy. Polish police arrested the man, whose name hasn't been reported, yesterday after finding the original painting in his home.

For those of you who don't recognize this painting, it's by one of my favorite painters - French impresionist Claude Monet. He was the founder of the impressionist movement and the most consistent practitioner of the movement's plein-air landscape painting.

The movement was named for this painting - Impression, Sunrise.

So now I'm going to post some of my favorites.

Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies

On the Bank of the Seine

Weeping Willow

Woman With a Parasol