Art Heist at French Museum

Trio busted in theft of $66M paintings lifted from Paris home of artist's granddaughter

(NEWSER) - Two stolen Picassos worth more than $66 million have been recovered by French police who swooped in as the thieves were about to sell the rolled-up canvases. Tipped off by a suspicious art dealer, investigators set up round-the-clock surveillance of the suspects for more than a month. Three men have been arrested. More»

(NEWSER) - Thieves stole a sketchbook containing 33 Pablo Picasso drawings from the Picasso Museum in Paris, the Daily Mail reports. The security system was somehow disabled and there was no sign of forced entry. The theft occurred sometime last night or early today and resembles the 2007 robbery of the home of one of Picasso’s granddaughters, when two paintings worth $55 million were taken. More»

Group broke into Paris museum during all-night culture festival

(NEWSER) - Four or five people broke into a Paris museum on Sunday and punched a hole in a Monet. The group broke open a back door to the Musee d'Orsay and fled when an alarm sounded, but not before tearing a four-inch hole in "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," a scene of a bridge and boats on the Seine painted in 1874. The vandals appeared to be drunk. More»

'Poppy Flowers' was taken from museum in Egypt

(NEWSER) - Despite reports of a quick recovery , a $50 million Vincent van Gogh painting is still missing from Egypt's Mahmoud Khalil Museum. The minister of culture said police confiscated the artwork, known as Poppy Flowers or Vase With Flowers, at an airport in Cairo from an Italian couple just hours after it was stolen, but he has now backtracked and says that announcement was based on "false and incorrect" information. Faulty surveillance cameras (only 7 of 43 were working), lax security, and a busted alarm system helped enable the theft, the AP reports . More»

Studio, burial ground private up til now

(NEWSER) - This summer, art fiends can visit Pablo Picasso’s final resting place for the first time—a château where “he devoted himself completely to his art,” the Telegraph reports. Picasso discovered Château de Vauvenargues in the foothills of France’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, a mountain made famous by Paul Cézanne. Visitors will see Picasso’s studio, untouched since he last used it, and objects including a dresser and mandolin that appear in his paintings. More»