Continuity mistake: When TC steals the Monet, he places the painting in the briefcase and closes the case breaking the frame in half and thus ripping the edges of the painting. When at home he opens the briefcase and the frame is obviously crooked but when he holds the painting up to place it above the fireplace it is perfectly intact and the painting is not damaged. (00:20:10 - 00:22:30)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: John McTiernan
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Denis Leary, Rene Russo, Ben Gazzara, Frankie Faison
The missing painting was actually the one Thomas Crown donated as a temporary replacement, just covered with a water-based paint. The sprinklers go off at the end, revealing the real painting underneath the paint. Thomas Crown gets away with it and he runs away with Catherine Banning.
More mistakes in The Thomas Crown Affair
Catherine Banning: Damn, I hate being a foregone conclusion.
Trivia: Not strictly a mistake, but have you ever seen anything like the product placement when Rene Russo storms into an office and downs a can of Pepsi One (with the label cunning facing the camera)? She does all but turn to camera, hold it up, and say "aaah - there's nothing like an ice-cold can of Pepsi". I actually laughed when I saw it.
Question: How does he fold the Monet in half to fit into the briefcase? Originally I thought he'd separated it from the wooden frame (ie. just a canvas), but when he takes it out back at his house he holds it up, and the wooden frame's still in one piece. Also, surely folding it in half would crack the paint, but despite the painting being twice the width of the briefcase (it fits snugly when the case is open), he then shuts the case down to a "normal" size. Any ideas?
Answer: The only explanation I can come up with is that the inner part of the frame is precut. With the frame cut that way it would allow the picture to fold, but when unfolded it would be fairly rigid with the exception of bending it forward at that point. When he pulls the painting out, it still holds the square shape of the frame. Best I can come up with.
Answer: He doesn't fold it. The frame is solid. It's just movie editing to make the viewer think he put it in her briefcase. You can't fold a Monet.
He absolutely folds it. We see him put it in the case and him then shut the case, folding it in half.
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Answer: I believe that the Monet that Crown hides in his study is not the one that was stolen, it is a copy that he already had prepared. He can enjoy the copy knowing that the original (with the broken spreader bars) is also in his possession. The stolen original then goes to the forger who repairs the broken spreader bars, and then paints another painting (using water soluble paint) over the Monet, so he can "return" it to the museum 3 days later. It gets more complicated when he discovers that Russo is on to him so he has a second forgery made (even the edges forged to match) over the top of "Dogs Playing Poker." He doesn't know if it will be necessary, but given his research into his new adversary, he concocts this contingency. It is likely that he has many contingencies in place, but the "Monet with a ghost underneath" is the only one we get to see. Of course for my theory to hold water, there must be (or have been) that earlier forgery - unless it has been destroyed.
It's not the forgery that he takes out of the briefcase. Even if it were, he still put the Monet in the briefcase at the museum and would have had to break the frame to close the briefcase, thus also breaking the paint and tearing the canvas. The real answer is that it is just something that couldn't really happen, and the movie people don't want the viewer to notice.