Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse paintings stolen in three-minute museum heist
A gang of thieves has stolen multi-millionaire dollars paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse during a three-minute heist near the city of Parma.
According to reports, the incident occurred on March 22 when four masked men stormed the Magnani Rocca Foundation museum before carting away the valuable paintings in just under three minutes, triggering the villa’s alarm system, which prevented them from stealing more.
The paintings that were stolen included a 1917 completed the oil-on-canvas Les Poissons by Renoir, who was one of the leading painters in the Impressionist movement; the Still Life with Cherries painted by Cézanne around 1890 and the Odalisque on the Terrace completed by Matisse in 1922.
The stolen collection is estimated to be worth $10.6 million, with Les Poissons alone priced at $6.9 million, making the heist the most significant art thefts in Italy in recent years. The robbery was only made public on Sunday.
Reports noted the thieves broke into the museum through the main door to the Villa dei Capolavori, nestled in the Parma countryside and stole the items from the building’s first floor and escaped by climbing over a fence.
The incident is now being investigated by Italy’s Carabinieri and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna
The Magnani Rocca Foundation is the latest institution in Europe to become victim of highly-priced collection items heist after priceless jewels were stolen in daylight from the Louvre in Paris last October.
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