Renoir paintings stolen from French Riviera museum in $10m heist

Early Tuesday morning, thieves carried out a heist at the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera. Just before 6am, the intruders broke into the museum, according to Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor Bryan Masson. The mayor didn't specify the stolen paintings, but French media reported their combined value at around €9 million, or $10.4 million. While police spotted the thieves and pursued them, the criminals dropped one painting during their escape, but managed to flee with the remaining three, Masson said.

The mayor emphasized the gravity of the attack, stating that attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a crucial part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. The museum, established in 1960, is housed in Pierre-Auguste Renoir's former mansion on a hill in the town near Nice, where the artist passed away in 1919. The museum's collection comprises 13 Renoir paintings, along with approximately 40 sculptures, photographs, and pieces of furniture, with the artist's most valuable works having fetched millions at auctions.

Art theft has become increasingly violent in Europe, with gangs being replaced by opportunistic individuals recruited through social media, according to Europol's recent report. The agency mentioned the Louvre Museum heist in Paris last October as an example, where thieves used explosives, axes, and sledgehammers, and threatened guards and visitors before stealing €88 million in jewels, including Empress Eugenie's tiara.

The trend has been traced back to 2024, when a group of hooded criminals with baseball bats and axes stormed the Cognacq-Jay art museum in Paris, stealing seven gold and diamond-adorned objects before escaping. In the Netherlands, a similar incident occurred in the same year, when a gang broke into the Drents Museum in Assen using explosives.