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Factbox-High-profile heists from museums
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 19, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 19, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Explore notorious museum heists involving stolen art and jewels. Discover details of these high-profile thefts across the globe.
(Reuters) -Here are details of major thefts from museums prior to Sunday's daylight break-in at the Louvre in Paris in which thieves stole priceless jewellery:
August 2023, LONDON - The British Museum said around 2,000 artefacts including gold jewellery and gems had been stolen over a long period in what the museum described as an "inside job".
August 2020, near UTRECHT - During a COVID pandemic shutdown, thieves broke in via a back door to steal "Two Laughing Boys" by Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals from the Hofje van Mevrouw Van Aerden museum near the Dutch city. The 1626 work, valued by one expert at 15 million euros ($18 million), had been stolen twice before.
March 2020, AMSTERDAM - Earlier in the COVID shutdown, Van Gogh's "Spring Garden" painting was stolen overnight from the Singer Laren Museum, where it had been on loan.
November 2019, DRESDEN - Thieves stole pieces that contained more than 4,300 diamonds with an estimated value of over 113 million euros ($124 million), by breaking through a grilled window at the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) museum in the city in the eastern German state of Saxony. Most of the jewels were recovered.
May 2015, MADRID - Five paintings by Francis Bacon worth $25 million were stolen from a Madrid house. Three were recovered two years later.
October 2012, ROTTERDAM - Thieves made off with seven paintings, worth tens of millions of euros, by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum. The Picasso was briefly believed to have been recovered, until it was deemed a fake. A Romanian man and several accomplices were convicted of the theft in 2013.
May 2010, PARIS - Five paintings worth 120 million euros ($117.98 million) were stolen from the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The stolen works included Picasso's "Dove with Green Peas" and Henri Matisse's "Pastorale".
February 2008, ZURICH - Four oil paintings by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, van Gogh and Claude Monet worth $164 million were stolen from the Buehrle Collection in Zurich. The Monet and Van Gogh were found soon after, and the Cezanne in 2012 in Serbia.
December 2004, SAO PAULO - In Brazil thieves stole Picasso's 1904 work "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch", worth up to $50 million, and local painter Candido Portinari's 1939 "The Coffee Worker", valued at about $5.5 million, from Sao Paulo's leading art museum. Both paintings were recovered the next month.
August 2004, OSLO - Armed robbers stole Edvard Munch's "The Scream" from the Munch Museum in Oslo, the second time in 10 years that a version of the painting was stolen. Thieves also took Munch's "Madonna". The paintings, from 1893, were recovered in August 2006.
August 2003, Drumlanrig Castle, SCOTLAND - Thieves stole the "Madonna of the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci. The work, painted in the early 16th century, was valued at about $53 million. It was recovered in Scotland four years later.
December 2002, AMSTERDAM - Two Van Gogh oil paintings worth an estimated $56 million each were snatched by thieves in a daring robbery at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Both paintings were found in Naples in 2016 at the country house of an alleged mafia drug smuggler.
December 2001, STOCKHOLM - "Conversation" and "A Young Parisienne" by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir and a self-portrait by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn were stolen from Stockholm's National Museum. "Conversation" was recovered the following April, the Rembrandt portrait in 2005.
November 1993, STOCKHOLM - Eight works by Pablo Picasso and French cubist Georges Braque, valued at some $60 million, were stolen from Stockholm's Modern Museum. Some were recovered in the following months.
April 1991, AMSTERDAM - In what was then billed as the world's biggest art robbery, 20 paintings, estimated to be worth $500 million, were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, including Vincent Van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters". They were found shortly afterwards in an abandoned car not far away.
(Compiled by David Cutler, Alexandra Hudson and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Alison Williams)
A heist is a robbery, often involving the theft of valuable items such as money, jewelry, or art, typically executed with planning and precision.
Museum theft refers to the illegal act of stealing artifacts, artworks, or other valuable items from a museum, often involving elaborate planning and execution.
An inside job is a crime committed by someone within an organization, often involving collusion or assistance from employees to facilitate the theft.
The value of stolen art can vary significantly, with some pieces being worth millions of dollars, depending on their historical significance and market demand.
Art recovery is the process of locating and returning stolen artworks or artifacts to their rightful owners, often involving law enforcement and specialized recovery teams.
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