Two Renoir Paintings Are Still Missing After a Raid on the Renoir Museum

On Tuesday, two thieves cut through the garden fence of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera, and took four paintings. The alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m., and police arrived about five minutes later. The quick arrival forced the thieves to run, and they dropped two paintings in the garden. The other two are still missing, and police are searching for the suspects.

The two paintings found in the garden were Portrait of Madame Pichon, painted in 1895, and Coco Lisant from 1905, which shows Renoir's young son Claude. The missing works are Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano from 1910 and Young Woman at the Well from 1886. They had been lent to the museum by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The mayor's office gave a total value of about €9 million for all four stolen paintings, while a deputy mayor said the missing paintings were worth €2 million and €200,000.

Local mayor Bryan Masson said security cameras showed the pair entering through a hole in the fence and cutting the frames. He said the thieves appeared to be "well-equipped" and "well-informed". They wore helmets, gloves and combat clothing, and carried an electric knife and a saw. The quick police response limited the losses.

Masson said the theft should be a warning about the protection of French museums. He called on the national government to provide more funding, because local authorities cannot pay the rising costs alone. James Ratcliffe, an art theft expert, warned that without extra investment in security, further thefts were likely.