Art Heists

Stories

15 Stories

May 2008
- Muted By Thieves, Scream Returns at Full Volume
  
  CNN | May 23, 08 4:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream is hanging again in an Oslo museum today, 4 years after armed robbers stole it in broad daylight, CNN reports. The painting has been undergoing restoration since it was retrieved in 2006. It was structurally damaged, stained, scratched (exposing cardboard beneath the paint) and “considerably” dirtier, curators say, but “the artistic value … has not been reduced.” More »
- Sculpture Thieves Seek Scrap Metal
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 1, 08 4:39 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A wave of sculpture thefts has little to do with the pieces’ artistic merit: Police believe they’ve been stolen for their valuable copper content, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the past 18 months, three public artworks displayed in Brea, Calif., have disappeared—and the trend is appearing across the country, pushing some artists to consider dropping bronze as a medium. More »
February 2008
- Arts Nazis Stole Goes on Exhibit
  
  Los Angeles Times | Feb 20, 08 1:07 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Authorities in France and Israel are attempting to return paintings seized by Nazis during World War II to families to whom they belong, and have organized an exhibit of 50 “orphaned” works in Israel to solicit rightful claims. The tranquil themes of many of the works in the exhibit, “Looking for Owners,” contrast sharply with their ownership histories, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »
- Stolen Art Found in Parking Lot
  
  Guardian (UK) | Feb 19, 08 6:55 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The four 19th-century paintings stolen from a Swiss museum have reportedly been found in an unlocked car parked outside a Zurich psychiatric hospital. Although police have not yet confirmed the find, Swiss media are reporting that the $168 million worth of loot—one work each by Cézanne, Degas, Monet, and van Gogh—has been recovered. The paintings were stolen by masked gunmen on February 10. More »
- $160M in Art Stolen in Zurich
  
  BBC | Feb 11, 08 9:10 AM CST
  
  (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. More »
- Thieves Snag 2 Picassos
  
  Guardian (UK) | Feb 8, 08 2:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Thieves stole two Picasso paintings that belong to a German museum from a Swiss art gallery where they had been on display, the Guardian reports. The pilfered works, Tete de Cheval and Verre et Pichet, were on loan from the Sprengel Museum. Combined, they're worth $4.5 million, AFP reports. More »
January 2008
- Feds Raid Calif. Museums, Gallery in Stolen Art Case
  
  New York Times | Jan 25, 08 10:38 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Federal agents raided four California museums and a private gallery in a smuggling investigation into stolen foreign antiquities, reports the New York Times . The gallery allegedly imported looted goods from Thailand, Myanmar, and China, and individuals got inflated tax write-offs for donating them to museums. No charges have yet been filed in the case, which is being investigated by immigration, national park, and tax authorities. More »
- Brazilian Cops Recover Stolen Picasso
  
  Reuters | Jan 9, 08 2:20 PM CST
  
  (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 »
December 2007
- Bangladesh in Frenzied Search for Stolen Art
  
  Reuters | Dec 24, 07 11:34 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Bangladesh has mounted a massive hunt for two priceless artifacts that went missing yesterday at the Dhaka airport, Reuters reports. The statues of the Hindu god Vishnu, sculpted 1,500 years ago, were on their way to an exhibition at a Paris museum. Bangladeshi authorities have detained 12 suspects and stopped the shipment to France while the investigation continues. More »
- Thieves Nab a Picasso in Museum Heist
  
  Associated Press | Dec 21, 07 8:48 AM CST
  
  (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 »
October 2007
- Scottish Cops Recover Stolen da Vinci in Law Office Raid
  
  Scotsman (UK) | Oct 5, 07 8:56 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Police in Scotland have recovered a stolen $75 million painting by Leonardo da Vinci in a raid on a top Glasgow law firm that led to four arrests. A lawyer in the firm was among those busted. The " Madonna of the Yarnwinder " was stolen in 2003 from the Duke of Buccleuch's castle when the thieves, posing as tourists, snatched the work off a wall and ran, reports the Scotsman . More »
August 2007
- Stolen Picassos Recovered
  
  Independent (UK) | Aug 9, 07 5:18 AM CDT
  
  (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 »
- Art Heist at French Museum
  
  AFP | Aug 6, 07 8:29 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Hooded gunmen stormed a French museum in Nice yesterday afternoon and stole two Brueghel masterpieces, a Sisley, and a Monet. The thieves ordered employees to lie on the floor before stuffing the paintings in bags and fleeing. Police believe the heist was a "special order" for a private buyer because the works are too famous to be sold on the market. More »
September 2005
- Protecting the world's art treasures
  
  BBC | Sep 30, 05
  
  A gang of robbers is sitting on a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream - valued at between $60m (£32.9m) and $75m (£41.1m) - after bundling it out of a Norwegian museum. But what can they do with it - and would anyone buy it?
August 2004
- What happens to stolen art?
  
  BBC | Aug 23, 04
  
  A gang of robbers is sitting on a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream - valued at between $60m (£32.9m) and $75m (£41.1m) - after bundling it out of a Norwegian museum. But what can they do with it - and would anyone buy it?