Brazil Thieves Nab 2 Picassos

Work by Portinari also missing after quick strike in Brazil

(NEWSER) - Thieves broke into Latin America's foremost museum early yesterday and stole two paintings in a 3-minute heist. They made off with a Picasso portrait and a work by Brazilian painter Candido Portinari from Brazil's São Paulo Museum of Art, the AP reports. The thieves skipped several major works and grabbed only the two canvases, hung far apart, leading police to conclude they were stolen on demand. More»

Blue Period painting taken from Sao Paulo museum last month

(NEWSER) - Police in Brazil have recovered a Picasso painting stolen from a Sao Paulo museum last month and arrested two suspects yesterday. The Picasso, Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, and a painting by Brazilian Candido Portinari are valued at a combined $55 million. The thieves broke into the museum using a hydraulic jack and snatched both paintings in 3 minutes. More»

Pablo Picasso makes 2 appearances

(NEWSER) - Following the record-breaking sale of Edvard Munch's The Scream , the Guardian takes a look at the other biggest sales of art at auction. The top five:

1. Edvard Munch, The Scream, $119.9 million.
2. Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, $106.5 million.
3. Alberto Giacometti, L'homme qui Marche I, $105.2 million.
4. Pablo Picasso, Boy With a Pipe, $104.2 million.
5. Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, $87.9 million.

Brazilian dies after Good Friday accident

(AP) - A Brazilian actor playing Judas who accidentally hanged himself during a scene in "The Passion of Christ" has died. A hospital in Brazil's Sao Paulo state confirms on its website the death of 27-year-old Tiago Klimeck. An autopsy is being performed today following his death the previous day. The actor had been in a coma since the accident on Good Friday earlier this month in the city of Itarare. More»

Paris cops reveal fruits of art heist probe

(NEWSER) - A Paris watchmaker says he threw out several priceless works of art before being arrested last year, the Telegraph reports. Revealing a 17-month investigation today, police say a Serb nicknamed "Spiderman" stole works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and others from a poorly guarded Paris museum in May 2010. An antiques dealer then allegedly passed the works to a watchmaker with expertise in auctions, who "panicked and destroyed the canvasses before throwing them into a rubbish bin." More»