Top 7 Art Crimes of the XXI century

Art crimes are probably as old as art itself. It began right at the time when mankind began producing artworks. The modern era of art heists started on December 31, 1999 when the first great art heists of the 21st century took place. The Federal Bureau of Investigations states that approximately eight billion US Dollars worth of artworks are robbed every year. Hardly a month goes by without a new art crime and neither state-of-the-art alarm systems nor specially trained art theft investigators can prevent art heists. Unfortunately, 90 percent of cases go unsolved due to a number of reasons: political and economical instability, open borders, poor documentation of stolen works at the time of the heist, unregulated art market and the growing market demand. Art thefts have always captured public’s imagination. Below is a list of the top 7 (plus a bonus) most audacious art crimes of the XXI century.

1. On the 31st of December, 1999, a thief broke into Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, during the fireworks that accompanied the celebration of the new millennium. The burglar used a smoke bomb to hide himself from cameras and conceal the crime. He stole Cezanne’s “View of Auvers-sur-Oise” which is valued at GBP 3 million. This art crime is considered the first art heist of the millennium.

2. On December 23, 2000, right before the closing time, three thieves, one of whom was armed, walked into the National Swedish Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. While one of them was pointing a gun at a guard, his two accomplices took down Pierre Auguste Renoir’s “Young Persian”, “Conversation with Gardener” and Rembrandt’s self-portrait. The three paintings were valued at USD 30 million. The bandits escaped on a boat diverting police’s attention with car explosions in other parts of the city. Fortunately, in 2005 all missing paintings were recovered.

3. Two oil paintings by Maxfield Parrish were stolen from Edenhurst gallery in West Hollywood, California in July 2002. The robbers made their way into the gallery unimpeded through the roof, quickly cut the paintings from their frames and escaped. Parrish’s finest creations haven’t been recovered.

4. In the early morning of December 7, 2002, the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Holland was robbed for the second time (the first crime heist took place in 1991 when burglars stole 20 painting valued at USD 10 million each; the masterpieces were recovered in a few hours). The two thieves used a ladder to climb to the first floor window and broke into the building. They ran to the main exhibition hall and stole two works by Vincent Van Gogh: “View of the Sea at Scheveningen” and “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Churched in Nuenen” valued at USD 30 million. The men escaped with the paintings the same way as they entered. Even thought the break in immediately triggered a burglar alarm, the police arrived too late to catch the robbers. They were captured in December 2003, but the masterpieces still haven’t been recovered.

5. Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting “Madonna with the Yarnwinder” was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland in August, 2003. Two men came on a public tour pretending to be tourists, overpowered a female guide and carried Leonardo’s masterpiece valued at USD 65 million away. The picture has been recovered recently in Glasgo.

6. On the 22nd of August, 2004, two masked men entered Oslo’s Munch Museum through the café and stole two paintings by Edward Munch “The Scream” and “Madonna”. Then they quickly jumped into black Audi driven by their accomplice and escaped. Both paintings were recovered slightly damaged.

7. Armed thieves burst into the Chacara Do Céu Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 24, 2006, and stole Salvador Dali’s “Two Balconies”, Henri Matisse’s “Luxembourg Garden”, Pablo Picasso’s “Dance” and Claude Monet’s “Marine”. The artworks were worth USD 50-60 million. The robbers used the cover of carnival crowds to escape with the paintings.

The latest sensational art crime of the XXI century took place on February 10, 2008. “Boy with the Red Vest” by Paul Cezanne, “Count Lepic and His Daughters” by Edgar Degas, “Poppes near Vetheuil” by Claude Monet and “Blossoming Chest Nut Branches” by Vincent Van Gogh were stolen from E.G. Bührle Foundation museum in Zurich. Four paintings valued at USD 163 million were stolen by three gangs wearing ski masks. Two of the paintings were recovered, but masterpieces by Cezanne and Degas remain missing.