Renoir paintings worth millions stolen in French museum heist

BBC ^ | 09/08/2026 | Michael Sheils McNameeandTiffany Wertheimer

[SeekAndFind]

Two paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir have been stolen from a museum in the south of France.

Two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer early on Tuesday, seizing four paintings but dropping two of the works in the museum gardens as they escaped, local Mayor Bryan Masson said.

The paintings, worth €9m (£7.7m; $10.4m), are the latest high-profile pieces to have been stolen in a string of recent heists in Europe which have thrust the security of art in galleries and museums into the spotlight.

One of the most high-profile was in October last year, when a brazen heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris saw France's priceless crown jewels being stolen.

CCTV footage captured the thieves entering the Renoir museum gardens by cutting through a fence before they cut through structures holding the paintings' frames in place, the local mayor said.

The alarm went off at 05:48 (03:48 GMT), and police were at the scene within five minutes, Masson explained, saying the thieves fled the scene upon hearing the security alarms.

He later told reporters that the thieves seemed to be "well-equipped" and "well-informed".

They were "wearing helmets, gloves, and combat gear" and carrying "an electric knife and hacksaw," he added.

The two missing paintings

The mayor said that two other paintings were "abandoned" in the gardens and have now been recovered.

The two paintings that are still missing are:

• Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910)
• Jeune fille au puits (1886)

And the two pieces that were recovered are:

• Portrait of Madame Pichon (1895)
• Coco Lisant (1905)

"Attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer," the mayor told reporters at the museum.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; France; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: paintings; renoir; theft

[Red Badger]

Deja vu......

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

They’ll show up in a garage sale somewhere and no one will want them.

[Magnum44]

[PGalt]

GREAT artist. Beautiful paintings.

[dfwgator]

[Jamestown1630]

I do not understand why someone would do this. It’s not like jewelry, that can be broken down and ‘fenced’ in a much less recognizable form.

[sonova]

Electric Knife?!

I thought I wanted a Renoir. But now I want an Electric Knife!!

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Renoir’s dead. Not going to miss them.

[MeanWestTexan]

Typically art theives fall into two categories:

(1) It’s a person struck with an almost sudden insanity, spur of the moment, desire and didn’t think it through.

or

(2) much more rarely, it’s thieves with a buyer who hired them for the theft or a person who wants it in their home.

But, you’re correct, in general. It’s essentially impossible to re-sell the paintings, even after 100 years or so passes.

My lawyer has art that was stolen during WWII that was returned to his family after 90 years. Heirs take paintings to Christie’s (or whatever), with no clue it was stolen. A literal Interpol alarm goes out and it’s seized.