Lost and Found Art Image Gallery - Stolen and Recovered Works of Art

Theft happens. Art is taken by armed force, by stealth, through political channels, as spoils of war and even unintentionally (think: antiquated antiquities practices). When any of these things happen, headlines are made and wheels of investigation are put into motion. Here are pictures of works that are missing, have been found or are the subject of litigation.

Stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Five paintings were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris shortly after 3:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 20, 2010. The single thief, who gained access by breaking a window, went undetected as he or she cut Matisse, Braque, Picasso, Modigliani and Léger canvases from their frames and left with them. Reports of the total value of the paintings have been exaggerated in some accounts, though collectively they are easily worth over $200 million (US).

Stolen from the Richard L. Weisman Collection
Sometime between September 2 and 3, 2009, the Los Angeles residence of collector Richard L. Weisman was stripped of 11 original Andy Warhol canvases. Ten comprised the Athlete Series that Weisman commissioned in the late 1970s, and the eleventh was a portrait of Weisman himself.

Stolen from the E. G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
At around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 10, 2008, three thieves wearing dark clothing and ski masks entered the E. G. Bührle Collection on the shores of Lake Zurich in Switzerland shortly before the facility was due to close for the day at 5:00 p.m. Four side-by-side Post-Impressionist paintings were summarily stripped from a wall in the "Music...

Stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice
At about 1:00 PM on Sunday, August 5, 2007, five masked and armed robbers entered the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nice. Within ten minutes, they escaped with four important paintings and left a fifth (a Sisley) damaged when it was found to be too large to fit in the bags the thieves had brought.

The Bloch-Bauer Klimt Paintings
Among many other paintings by Austrian artists, a famous 400-piece porcelain collection, tapestries and furniture, Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer owned seven paintings by Gustav Klimt before Austria was annexed in 1938.

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