Two artworks by the American artist Andy Warhol have been stolen during an overnight break-in at a gallery in the Netherlands.

The incident took place at the MPV Gallery in the North Brabant province.

The thieves originally took four silkscreens from Warhol’s Reigning Queens series but abandoned two nearby, the gallery owner told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

The works taken are of the late Queen Elizabeth II and of Margrethe II, who was Queen of Denmark until her abdication earlier this year.

Local police, who are investigating, said it appeared that there had been some form of explosion and that there was a lot of damage to the gallery and surrounding buildings. The thieves are said to have fled in a car.

According to NOS, two other prints in the series, depicting Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned because they did not fit in the vehicle.

The four artworks were being kept at the gallery ahead of the PAN Amsterdam art fair later this month, where they were to be put up for sale as a set.

They are part of a series of 16 silk screens of the four queens that Warhol, who is considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century, created in 1985 – two years before his death.

Two of the works depicting Queen Elizabeth II sold for more than £500,000 each at Sotheby’s auction house in 2022.