Two paintings by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir have been stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, in south-east France. The thieves took four paintings but dropped two as they fled, according to latest reports on the BBC. The office of the town’s mayor says the estimated value of the stolen art was €9m. The museum has been contacted for comment.
Bryan Masson, the town’s mayor, says: “The museum’s alarm was triggered at 5.48am... just five minutes later, our municipal police were on the scene... The perpetrators are being actively sought and the investigation is ongoing. Attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer.”
The museum, located on the estate where the painter spent the last 12 years of his life, has a collection of 13 Renoir paintings and around 40 sculptures on display. According to the mayor’s office, Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune femme au puits (young woman at the well, 1886) are reportedly the two paintings that are missing. The other paintings reportedly removed but not taken were Portrait of Madame Stephen Pichon (1895) and Coco Lisant (1905). Renoir painted his youngest son Claude, known as “Coco,” and the comedian Colonna Romano—the girlfriend of his eldest son Pierre—several times.
France's culture minister Catherine Pégard issued a statement on Tuesday (8 September) indicating that the four paintings taken from the Renoir Museum were part of the Musée d'Orsay collection in Paris, and have been on loan in Cagnes-sur-Mer since 1995. Three of them were recovered from Germany after 1945 and are being held by museums until they can find their legitimate owners, although the minister did not specify which ones.
Masson reportedly said that the thieves “were wearing helmets, gloves and combat gear” and carried “an electric knife and hacksaw” as they entered the museum gardens by cutting through a fence. He believes that they intended to steal more pieces but were interrupted by the alarm.
The Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France SpiritofAmerica
The Renoir heist follows a number of thefts at major museums across Europe. Last month four works by the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Museo Regionale di Messina in the artist’s hometown in Sicily.
In the wake of the heist from the Musée du Louvre in Paris last October, the French culture ministry launched a national plan to enhance security in 3,100 museums, monuments and churches across France. In her recent statement, Pégard once again called on all museums to “take emergency measures to protect their collections”.
The exhibition Renoir and Love, which includes more than 40 paintings, opens next month at the National Gallery in London (3 October-31 July 2027).
