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December 2, 2008 9:58:05 AM CST

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$160M in Art Stolen in Zurich

Posted Feb 11, 08 9:10 AM CST in Arts & Living,  Business 

(Newser) – A gang of armed art thieves absconded with four masterpieces by Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, and Cezanne worth $160 million from a Zurich museum yesterday. The brazen daytime robbery follows a theft of two Picassos in Switzerland just two days earlier. The three masked thieves confronted a guard with guns, grabbed the paintings, and took off in a white vehicle, said authorities, who described the operation as a "spectacular" heist.

Monet's Poppies Near Vetheuil, Degas' Count Lepic and His Daughters, Van Gogh's Chestnut in Bloom, and Boy in the Red Waistcoat by Paul Cezanne were taken. Police are hunting for yesterday's thieves as well as those who took the Picassos, which were on loan from Germany to another Swiss town. 

Sources BBC, Bloomberg

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Poppies near Vetheuil, by Claude Monet, one of the paintings stolen in a heist being described as "spectacular" by law enforcement.   (AFP)
One of the paintings stolen, Count Lepic and his Daughters, by Edgar Degas (1871) is seen here in reproduction.   (Public Domain)
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art • painting • theft • art theft • Vincent Van Gogh • art heist • Monet • Degas • Cezanne


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