OSLO, Norway — Two years after the brazen daylight theft of national artistic treasures from an Oslo museum, police announced yesterday that they recovered the Edvard Munch masterpieces “The Scream” and “Madonna.”

Art lovers had feared the priceless paintings were gone for good. Norwegian press and broadcast outlets spent the months speculating about the works’ fate — whether they had been burned to escape the police hunt, sold to a wealthy collector for private viewing, or suffered harm in their hiding place.

“I saw the paintings myself today, and there was far from the damage that could have been feared,” Iver Stensrud said. Mr. Stensrud is the police inspector who headed the investigation since masked gunmen who raided the Munch Museum on August 22, 2004, took the paintings.

Experts from the Munch Museum confirmed late yesterday that the paintings, still shielded from the public and from journalists, were the real thing.

“The Scream” is probably the best-known work in Munch’s emotionally charged style, which was a major influence in the birth of the Expressionist movement. Its waif-like figure, apparently screaming or hearing a scream, has become a modern icon of human anxiety.

“The Scream” and “Madonna” were part of the artist’s “Frieze of Life” series, focusing on sickness, death, anxiety, and love.

Even though Munch, who died in 1944 at age 80, had painted three other versions of “The Scream,” his fellow Norwegians were heartbroken over the theft, and news of its return was greeted with relief and joy.

“I am almost crying from happiness,” the chairwoman of the Munch Museum board Gro Balas, said.

Mr. Stensrud said authorities believed the paintings had been in Norway the whole time.

But he was cagey at a news conference in Oslo about how the paintings were recovered, saying only that “the pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action.”

He did say no reward was paid, even though the City of Oslo, which owns the paintings, offered about $294,000 for their return. He also said three men convicted this year for roles in the theft did not provide any help.

“We built this stone for stone,” Mr. Stensrud said of the investigation. “This is a joyous day for the police and for Norway.”

Three Norwegian men sentenced to prison in May were convicted of participating in the theft plot, but police said the masked gunmen remain at large.

Petter Tharaldsen, 34, was convicted of driving the getaway car and sentenced to eight years in prison. Bjoern Hoen, 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Petter Rosenvinge, 38, to four years for providing and preparing the getaway car.