Three paintings stolen from Renoir Museum in southern France
Three paintings were taken during an early-morning burglary at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, with the mayor’s office estimating their value at €9 million.
Three paintings have been stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, southern France, after two thieves entered the museum shortly before 6am.
The thieves took four paintings but abandoned one while fleeing, according to Al Jazeera. The stolen works have not been publicly identified.
The mayor’s office estimated the value of the three paintings at about €9 million ($10.5 million). That figure has not been independently verified.
The museum alarm sounded at 5:48am and municipal police arrived five minutes later. Investigators found two zipped bags in the museum garden that may have belonged to the suspects, but their connection to the burglary has not been established.
France’s Sub-Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Specialised Delinquency is leading the investigation. No arrests or motive have been reported.
The museum opened in 1960 in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s final home and holds paintings, sculptures, furniture and personal objects associated with the artist. The burglary follows the theft of eight items from Paris’s Louvre Museum less than a year ago; those items remain missing.
