Thieves steal paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse from a private museum in Italy.
Thieves stole three paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse worth millions of euros from a museum near Parma, police said on Monday.The robbery occurred overnight between March 22 and 23, when intruders opened the entrance to the Magnani Rocca Foundation, a private museum located about 20 kilometers from the city.The stolen works include “Fish” by Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries” by Cézanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Matisse. Local media reported that the thieves carried out the operation in less than three minutes before fleeing through the museum gardens.
Founded in 1977, the museum houses the collection of art historian Luigi Magnani and includes works by masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Francisco Goya, and Claude Monet.The authorities suspect that an organized group was behind the theft, which was stopped by the alarm system. The museum did not issue a statement and was not available for comment as it remains closed on Monday.The incident follows a series of high-profile art thefts across Europe, including the heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in October, where the French Crown Jewels and other items worth €88 million were stolen.Art expert Claudio Strinati said the stolen works were relatively small within the broader files of artists, but warned that such thefts were often linked to extortion attempts. He added: “Artworks can indeed be stolen for the purpose of obtaining ransom.”