Yesterday 20/05/2010 staff arrived at the Museaum of Modern Art, Paris to discover an unprecedented £86 Million worth of art had been stolen during the night. Details are still emerging but it seems all the thieves had to do was break a padlocked gate and then remove a small window pane. Amongst the treasures stolen were Picasso’s 1912 oil painting, Le pigeon aux petits pois (Dove with Green Peas), estimated to be worth €23m, and Henri Matisse’s Pastorale (Pastoral, 1906, above), valued at €15m. Understandably, the robbery is being described as the heist of the century.
Staff at the museum have told investigators that the security system had not been working for the last few days, opening up the possibility that they had been deliberately disabled. The security cameras did catch an image of a single masked raider, prompting speculation that the theft may have been the work of just one man. There is a certain amount of disbelief that such a large and audacious heist could be the work of one man alone. Whatever the truth, the race is on to catch those responsible and recover the art works. If they are not recovered immediately, precedent dictates that it could be decades before they are recovered, if ever.
The heist also confirms Picasso’s reputation of the most stolen artist. In June last year, a sketchbook valued at €8m was stolen from the Picasso museum in Paris and has yet to be recovered. In February 2007, two paintings worth nearly £45m and a drawing were stolen from the Paris home of the artist’s granddaughter. Police later recovered the art when the thieves tried to sell it.
From the criminals point of view, art heists are notoriously tricky. It is very difficult to unload stolen artworks and a lot of heists begin to unravel at this point. It is to be hoped that this will be the case with yesterday’s robbery.�
