Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor says stolen Renoir paintings recovered, six arrested
Mayor Bryan Masson said the two Renoir paintings were recovered and six suspects arrested.
Law and Crime
The two Pierre-Auguste Renoir paintings that had remained missing after a September break-in at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France have been recovered, Mayor Bryan Masson said. Six suspects have been arrested.
Masson, of the National Rally party, did not say in his Instagram post when or where the paintings were found, who the suspects are or whether any have been charged. He credited the Specialized Interregional Court of Marseille, along with the national and municipal police, for the recovery.
“I would like to give special recognition to the investigators from SIPJ 06 and the Central Office for the Fight Against Trafficking in Cultural Property, who conducted their investigations with determination and discretion,” Masson said.
“These two paintings are not merely works of art. They are part of our city’s history, our cultural heritage, and the legacy left by Auguste Renoir to Cagnes-sur-Mer.”
Two people broke into the museum before dawn on September 8 and took four Renoir paintings that had been on deposit from the Musée d’Orsay since 1995, Urgent Matter previously reported. The alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m., and municipal police arrived five minutes later.
The thieves left Portrait de Madame Stephen Pichon and Coco lisant behind in the museum gardens as they ran.
The French Culture Ministry said at the time that three of the four paintings are classified as Musées Nationaux Récupération, a status for art recovered after World War II whose owners could not be found. The ministry did not say which three.
The ministry handed the investigation to its sub-directorate for combating organized crime. Masson tied the theft to organized networks in the days after and ordered security audits at the Renoir Museum and the town’s other museums, including the Grimaldi Museum.
The Art Loss Register logged all four paintings as stolen the same day. James Ratcliffe, the group’s director of recoveries and general counsel, told Urgent Matter the works carried a reported value of €9 million.
After the theft, the town closed the museum to the public until further notice. Masson’s post did not say whether it has reopened.
Urgent Matter is reader-supported. Please consider subscribing to support independent arts journalism.
Members Discussion