Roymans is thought to have been motivated by news of the bloodshed , rape , and murder of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide . On October 3 , 1971 , using the name " Tijl van Limburg " ( a character similar to Robin Hood ) , Roymans contacted the Brussels newspaper '' Le Soir '' and asked for a reporter to meet him in a forest with a camera . He drove the reporter , blindfolded , to a church and unveiled the painting from a white cloth cover . After letting the reporter take photos of the canvas in the cars headlights , he drove him back . He told the reporter that he actually loved art , but also loved humanity . After the encounter , the pictures were published , alongside Roymans ’ conditions : 200 million Belgian francs to be given to famine-stricken Bengali refugees in East Pakistan . Roymans additionally requested the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels organize campaigns in their respective countries to raise money to combat world famine . Roymans set the deadline for these demands to be due Wednesday , October 6
1971 Bangladesh genocide
1971 Bangladesh genocide
The Love Letter (Vermeer)