There are many people in the world who would love to own a Van Gogh or a Leonardo, but few who could afford such rarities.
With art history’s masterpieces regularly ranking among the most expensive objects on the planet, it’s no wonder they’ve been the subject of more than a few shocking heists.
Thefts of famous artworks from some of the world’s most prominent art institutions have always grabbed headlines, with the mysteries that surround the expensive escapades often baffling authorities and experts for decades.
From daring capers to unsolved mysteries, these are the Hollywood-worthy stories of art thefts that gripped the world.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1990
This Boston Museum is the scene of the most expensive property theft in history, and one that still remains unsolved nearly 30 years later. In the early hours March 18 1990, two thieves broke into the museum and made off with 13 artworks, the value of which totalled a staggering £500 million. They included one of only 34 existing paintings by Johannes Vermeer, and The Storm on the Sea of Gaililee by Rembrandt. To this day, the museum still hangs empty frames in the places where the artworks were stolen from.
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, 1911
Mona Lisa was actually a little-known artwork in 1911, but it was the audacious theft of the masterpiece in that year that made the Leonardo painting the most famous in the world. The Mona Lisa disappeared overnight from the Louvre in Paris on August 21. The painting became a media sensation, and it was believed by some at the time that modernist artists stole it in protest against traditional art – Pablo Picasso was even a suspect in the case. The real culprit was Vincenzo Perugia, who had been hired by the gallery to fit protective glass cases for some of its artwork – after which, Perugia hid in a closet, and stole the painting overnight. It was not recovered for another two years.
The Just Judges of the Ghent Altarpiece, 1934
This panelled painting by brothers Hubert and Jan Van Eyck is thought to be the most stolen artwork of all time – largely because different bits of it have been stolen at different times over its 600-year history. The Just Judges panel disappeared from the St Bavo Cathedral one night in 1934. Shortly after, the Bishop of Ghent received a ransom note for one million Belgian francs. Although 11 letters were exchanged between authorities and the thieves, no ransom was paid and the painting was never recovered. A man called Arsène Goedertier purported to be the thief. Just months after the theft, he revealed on his deathbed that he was the only person to know the whereabouts of the painting – and he took the secret to his grave.
Whitworth Art Gallery, 2003
This particularly peculiar theft occurred a little closer to home. Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery saw three of its most famous works stolen in 2003. Paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin were discovered missing on April 23, but were recovered just a couple of days later in a nearby public toilet – instantly dubbed “the Loo-vre” in the media. The paintings were found rolled up in a cardboard tube alongside a note from the thieves reading: “We did not intend to steal these paintings, just to highlight the woeful security.”
Kunsthal, 2012
A theft from 2012 made headlines again in 2018, when it was claimed that one of the stolen paintings – a Picasso – had been found in Romania. The stunt turned out to be a hoax, another twist in the strange tale of seven of paintings that were stolen from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, a heist which was completed in just three minutes. The mother of one of the thieves initially said she had burned the paintings. She later denied the confession, but forensic scientists found fragments of paint and nails in an oven at her house that they believed to be consistent with some of the paintings.
The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1994 and 2004
The Scream, a famously haunting artwork by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch has been the subject of two high profile thefts in the last 30 years. Munch made four versions of the work, one of which was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo in 1994, and another that was stolen from the Munch museum 10 years later. The works were recovered both times: the first after a $1 million dollar ransom was demanded and the work was retrieved in a sting operation, and the second with some irreparable moisture damage in undisclosed circumstances.
View of Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Cézanne, 2000
While the city of Oxford was preparing to celebrate the turn of the millennium, two thieves were plotting to steal artwork from one of its most prestigious museums. During the New Year celebrations on January 1 2000, thieves cut a hole in a skylight at the Ashmolean Museum, shimmied down a rope into the galleries, dropped a smoke bomb to cover CCTV cameras and stole View of Auvers-sur-Oise, a £3 million painting by Post Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne. The painting has never been recovered.
Van Gogh Museum, 1991 and 2002
The Van Gogh Museum has been the location of two very different heists, both of which saw paintings by the Dutch master removed from its wall. In 1991, 20 paintings were stolen from the gallery, worth almost £500 million – but the paintings were found just half an hour later inside a nearby parked car. It did, however, take another three months to track down the thieves, who had abandoned the works after their second getaway car was scuppered by a flat tyre. In 2002, two other paintings were stolen, but were not found for 14 years.
Henry Moore Foundation, 2005
This theft is among the most audacious in art history, largely because of the sheer mass of the stolen artwork. A Reclining Figure, an artwork which measured 11 feet in length and two tonnes in weight, was stolen from the grounds of the estate of the late Henry Moore in December 2005. The world was astonished at how thieves were able to move the colossal sculpture without being noticed, and it was never found. Sadly, it is now thought that the £3 million sculpture was most likely melted down and sold for scrap for just £1500.
Poppy Flowers by Vincent Van Gogh, 1977 and 2010
Poppy Flowers by Vincent Van Gogh – an artist whose works appear frequently on this list – has been stolen twice in its lifetime. The first theft occurred in 1977, when it was taken from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo, Egypt, and was missing for 10 years until it was found in Kuwait. In 2010, it was stolen again from the same museum. To this day, the $55 million painting is still missing, in spite of an Egyptian billionaire having offered a $175,000 reward for information leading to its return.
