The Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer has lost two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, each valued at €9m, after two thieves forced their way into the collection on Tuesday morning. Police and local officials say the intruders cut through a fence to reach the museum gardens, removed paintings from their frames, and fled when the alarm sounded at 05:48 (05:48 GMT). Two of the four works were abandoned in the garden and recovered, while Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune fille au puits (1886) remain missing.
The Story in Pictures
Mayor Bryan Masson described the suspects as seeming to be "well-equipped" and "well-informed," and said they were wearing helmets, gloves, and combat gear, and carried an electric knife and hacksaw. Investigators found two zip-up bags at the scene, items authorities are examining as potential leads. Police were at the museum within five minutes of the alarm, according to the mayor.
The two paintings recovered after the escape are Portrait of Madame Pichon (1895) and Coco Lisant (1905). Masson framed the theft as an attack on local heritage, saying, "Attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer." He added, "It's Renoir's, it is priceless, you cannot sell it like that." The mayor urged the French government to provide greater financial support to local museums to counter what he called "increasingly organised and determined criminals."
The Renoir Museum houses 12 works by the artist, and occupies the home where Renoir lived in his final years. Opened in 1960, the museum also displays objects that once belonged to him, including his easel and wheelchair, plus photographs and personal letters. Local officials pointed to this heist as part of a wider pattern of high-profile art thefts across Europe, noting recent incidents such as the theft of four Renaissance paintings from a Sicilian museum last month and a jewellery theft at the Louvre in October last year.
Investigations are ongoing, and authorities have not reported any arrests. The two missing Renoirs remain unlocated, and local officials say they will press for state support to strengthen protection for regional museums against what they describe as increasingly organised threats to cultural property.
