Thieves targeted the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, making off with four valuable paintings, as confirmed by the local mayor. However, during their escape, they dropped two of the stolen pieces in the museum’s gardens after alarms alerted the police, who swiftly pursued them early on Tuesday morning.
The stolen paintings, created by renowned impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, have been known to command high prices at auctions, often fetching millions of dollars. The mayor, Bryan Masson, revealed that the thieves gained access to the museum just before 6 a.m. by creating a hole in a garden fence. This incident adds to a string of bold art thefts occurring in the country recently.
Masson expressed deep concern over the attack on the Renoir Museum, emphasizing that such actions not only target the museum but also diminish the historical and cultural significance of Cagnes-sur-Mer. The museum, situated in the artist’s former residence where Renoir passed away in 1919, showcases a collection of 13 of his paintings, as well as around 40 sculptures, furniture pieces, and photographs.
Among the stolen artworks were pieces like “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano,” “Coco Lisant,” and “Young Girl at the Well,” as reported by the local Nice-Matin newspaper. Despite this, Masson did not disclose the specific paintings that were taken.
This theft follows a trend identified by Europol, where art thieves in Europe are increasingly resorting to violent tactics. The police agency noted a shift from organized gangs to spontaneous individuals recruited through social media for such criminal activities. The notorious heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2025 serves as a stark illustration, where thieves menaced guards and visitors before making off with €88 million worth of jewels, including Empress Eugenie’s tiara.