Thieves steal Renoir paintings from French Riviera museum

On Tuesday morning, just before 6 a.m., two men broke into a museum on the French Riviera, cutting a hole in a garden fence to gain entry. They stole two Renoir paintings, "Madame Colonna Romano" and "Young Woman at the Well," which were on loan from Paris' Orsay Museum. The thieves also took two additional paintings, "Madame Pichon" and "Coco Reading," but dropped them in the museum's gardens when police arrived.

This is not the first time the museum has been targeted; French museums have been facing increasingly violent robberies, according to Europol. The museum, located in Renoir’s mansion on a hill near Nice, had 13 of the master's paintings on display, along with 40 sculptures, items of furniture, and photographs.

The museum's director expressed fear over the incident, emphasizing the priceless nature of the stolen works. Mayor Bryan Masson, a member of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, called for enhanced security measures for museums across France, urging the government to address the security failures plaguing these institutions. The French government has been under pressure to improve museum security, following a parliamentary report highlighting the lack of resources and inadequate emergency plans.

Europol reported that art thieves are now targeting museums with greater frequency, using social media to recruit opportunistic criminals for their heists. The Louvre Museum in Paris was the victim of an €88 million heist in October last year, and other French museums have also been targeted recently. Local residents expressed concern over the security of these valuable cultural treasures, highlighting the isolated setting of the museum and the severity of the break-in.