Results for “paris”
The Marmottan Monet Theft
In 1985 armed robbers took nine works from the Marmottan, including Monet's 'Impression, Sunrise' — the painting that gave Impressionism its name. All were recovered five years later in Corsica.
The 1911 Theft of the Mona Lisa
On the morning of 21 August 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from the walls of the Louvre. For twenty-eight months it was gone — and in its absence it became an icon.
The Nationalmuseum Sweden Robbery
On New Year's Eve 2000, armed men seized a Rembrandt self-portrait and two Renoirs from Stockholm's Nationalmuseum and escaped by boat, using car fires as a diversion. All three were eventually recovered.
The 2025 Louvre Crown Jewels Heist
On 19 October 2025, four men disguised as construction workers used a boom lift to enter the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon, smashed the display cases of the French Crown Jewels, and escaped in under ten minutes with eight historic objects worth an estimated €88 million. Most remain missing.
The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris Theft
In 2010 a lone burglar removed five paintings — Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Modigliani — from the Paris Museum of Modern Art. The thief was caught; the paintings never resurfaced.
The Tiara of Saitaphernes
In 1896 the Louvre triumphantly bought a golden tiara as a priceless Scythian-Greek antiquity. It was in fact made a few years earlier by the Odessa goldsmith Israel Rouchomovsky — and the 1903 exposure became one of the great museum humiliations in history.
Vincenzo Peruggia
An Italian handyman and former Louvre employee who, in 1911, walked out of the museum with the Mona Lisa concealed beneath his workman's smock. He kept the painting in his Paris apartment for over two years, claiming a patriotic desire to return it to Italy. His attempt to sell it to a Florentine dealer led to his arrest and to the theft that made the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world.
Gustave Courbet
The father of Realism, whose frank nudes and radical politics scandalised the establishment. After the 1871 Paris Commune he was imprisoned and held liable for the toppling of the Vendôme Column, dying in exile.
Israel Rouchomovsky
Odessa goldsmith who created the 'Tiara of Saitaphernes', bought by the Louvre in 1896 as a Scythian-Greek antiquity. two years before the Louvre acquisition, two dealers Schapschelle Hochmann and his brother Leiba, had commissioned Israel Rouchomovsky, a skilled goldsmith from Odesa, to make the tiara. They let him believe that it was intended as a gift for an archaeologist friend and provided Rouchomovsky with details from recent excavations to aid his design. It wasn't until news of the Louvre scandal reached him that Rouchomovsky learned of the fate of his creation. He traveled to Paris in 1903[2] and presented himself as the maker of the tiara. Experts at the museum refused to believe him until he demonstrated the ability to reproduce a portion of the crown. Embarrassed, the museum hid the object away in storage. The Louvre had been fooled in one of the greatest archeological scandals of the century. Isreal was an amazing goldsmith/artist who was duped by a couple dirty dealers.
Olive Tree near l'Estaque
A Braque landscape among the five masterpieces lost in the 2010 Paris Modern theft.
Woman with a Fan
Modigliani's elegant portrait, the best-known of the five works stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris in 2010.
Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois
A Cubist Picasso among the five works taken in the 2010 Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris theft. The thief later claimed the paintings were destroyed.
La Pastorale
A Fauvist Matisse taken in the 2010 Paris Museum of Modern Art theft, still unaccounted for.
Still Life with Chandeliers
A Léger still life, the fifth of the works taken in the 2010 Paris Modern theft.
The Louvre
The world's most visited museum, the Louvre has been both a target and a fortress of cultural heritage. Its 1911 loss of the Mona Lisa transformed the painting into a global icon and reshaped museum security forever.
Musée Marmottan Monet
Holder of the world's largest Monet collection, robbed at gunpoint in 1985 of the painting that named Impressionism.
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris
The Paris modern-art museum robbed of five masterpieces by a lone 'Spiderman' burglar in 2010.
Musée d'Orsay
The great Paris museum of Impressionism, and a repeated stage for Deborah De Robertis's provocative interventions.
Louvre Heist Update: Mastermind Reportedly Told Crew They “Could Have Taken More”
Newly released suspect statements describe a post-heist “performance review” from an unidentified organizer known only as “Jo” — who thought the crew left valuable pieces behind.
Ecce Mono: The Monkey Christ
Well-meaning parishioner Cecilia Giménez attempted to touch up a flaking fresco of Christ and produced 'Ecce Mono' — a hazy, simian visage that became a global sensation.
The Trouble With 'Fountain'
Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain' — a signed urinal that founded conceptual art — has repeatedly tempted performance artist Pierre Pinoncelli to urinate in it and, later, attack it with a hammer.
Fewer Seasons Left to Paint
An activist adhered a printed image of Monet's 'Poppy Field' transformed by a warmer climate onto its protective glazing, then glued a hand to the gallery wall.
The Sculpture Everyone Insisted Wasn't a Christmas Tree
Paul McCarthy's inflatable 'Tree' — widely compared to a sex toy — sparked outrage, an assault on the artist, and finally the cutting of its support cables, collapsing the work.
The Mona Lisa Eats Soup
Two activists from Riposte Alimentaire hurled pumpkin soup at the Mona Lisa's protective glass, demanding a 'healthy and sustainable food system'. The bulletproof glazing shrugged it off.