The August, 2007 theft marks the second time that this particular painting by Claude Monet has been stolen. It was taken previously from the Musée des Beaux-Arts on September 21, 1998 when thieves allegedly broke into the home of the museum's then-curator, Jean Forneris, and forced him to both drive to and let them into the premises. There Forneris and a security guard were bound, gagged and locked in a closet while the robbers sped off with this, Alfred Sisley's The Lane of Poplars at Moret (1890) and Forneris' automobile.
Both Cliffs Near Dieppe and the Sisley canvas were recovered mere days later on a boat in the nearby port of Saint Laurent du Var. This was a happy ending for all concerned except, as things turned out, Forneris. He was arrested, tried and convicted in 2002 of masterminding the theft. Forneris served 18 months of a five-year prison sentence, had the rest suspended and is presumed to be now and forever unemployable in the curatorial field.
About the Theft:
At about 1:00 PM on Sunday, August 5, 2007, five masked and armed robbers entered the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice. Within ten minutes, they escaped with four important paintings including one Monet, one Sisley and two Allegories by the Flemish Baroque painters Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrik van Balen the Elder. A fifth painting (a Sisley) was damaged and left behind when it was found to be too large to fit in the bags the thieves had brought.
Update, June 5, 2008: All four paintings were recovered from a utility vehicle in the port city of Marseilles by French police. Ten arrests have been made thus far.