See also: List of most expensive paintings and Lost artworks.
Many valuable paintings have been stolen. The paintings listed are from masters of Western art which are valued in millions of U.S. dollars. The US FBI maintains a list of "Top Ten Art Crimes";[1] a 2006 book by Simon Houpt,[2] a 2018 book by Noah Charney,[3] and several other media outlets have profiled the most significant outstanding losses.
| Painting | Title, Artist | Date stolen | Location of theft | Details | Estimated value | Reward | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marseille, France | Stolen from a private residence during a burglary; no other paintings were stolen. | $1,000,000 | |||||
| Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada | $1 million at the time; estimated in 2003 to have appreciated to $5 million | $50,000 | |||||
| Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada | |||||||
| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, United States | See main article: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft. The largest art theft in world history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990, when thieves stole 13 pieces, collectively valued at $500 million, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Among the pieces stolen was Vermeer's The Concert, which is considered to be the most valuable stolen painting in the world. A reward of $10,000,000 is still offered for information leading to their return. | Part of a $500,000,000 heist[4] | $10,000,000 | ||||
| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, United States | The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is a painting of 1633 by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn that was in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, prior to being stolen on March 18, 1990. The painting depicts the miracle of Jesus calming the waves on the Sea of Galilee, as depicted in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is Rembrandt's only seascape. It is widely believed, because of the fourteen people in the boat, that Rembrandt painted himself in the boat along with the twelve disciples and Jesus.[5] The crewmember looking out towards the viewer of the painting has been suggested as being a self-portrait of Rembrandt. | Part of a $500,000,000 heist | $10,000,000 | ||||
| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, United States | See main article: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft. The largest art theft in world history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990, when thieves stole 13 pieces, collectively worth $500 million, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Among the pieces stolen was Landscape with an Obelisk, which had been attributed to Rembrandt. A reward of $5 million is still offered for information leading to their return. | Part of a $500,000,000 art heist | $10,000,000 | ||||
| Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Wisconsin | Man with a Pipe (shown here in black and white half-tone) has been missing from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, since 1998 (between 27 July and 2 August), having disappeared while in transit on loan.[6] | $2,000,000 | Missing | ||||
| Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England | View of Auvers-sur-Oise is a landscape painting by Paul Cézanne. It was stolen from the museum on the last night of 1999, during a celebration of fireworks.[7] | $10,000,000[8] [9] | ? | ||||
| Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia | Stolen by visitor during opening hours.[10] | $1,000,000 | |||||
| Budapest, Andrássy 94 szám, Hübner Palace, Budapest, Hungary | Stolen on 11 February 2010 from Andrássy 94 szám, Budapest, Palace Hübner by robbers using force. Criminal case, Budapest Police - BRFK VI.ker. Rendőrkapitányság 010060/465/2010 | $1 million at the time | No | ||||
| Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Cairo, Egypt | Poppy Flowers (also known as Vase and Flowers and Vase with Viscaria) is a painting by Vincent van Gogh with an estimated value of $50 million.[11] The painting, which is of a vase of yellow and red poppies, contrasted against a dark background is a reflection of Van Gogh's deep admiration for Adolphe Monticelli, an older painter whose work influenced him when first he saw it in Paris in 1886.[12] Egyptian officials erroneously believed they had recovered the painting only hours after its theft when two Italian suspects attempted to board a plane to Italy at Cairo International Airport.[13] The same painting had been stolen from the same museum on June 4, 1977, and was recovered ten years later in Kuwait.[14] The painting is small, measuring 65 x 54 cm, and depicts yellow and red poppy flowers.[15] It is believed that van Gogh painted it in 1887, three years before his suicide.[16] | $50–55,000,000 | $10,000,000 | ||||
| Madeleine Leaning on her Elbow with Flowers in her Hair by Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Private residence, Houston, Texas | Stolen by armed robber at night[17] | $1,000,000 |
| Painting | Title, Artist | Date stolen | Location of theft | Details | Estimated value | Reward | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily | The Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (also known as The Adoration) is a painting from 1609 by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. It was stolen on October 16, 1969, in Palermo, Sicily. The painting is large, measuring almost six square metres (actual size 268 cm x 197 cm) and hung above the altar. Probably because of its size, it was removed from its frame by the thief or thieves (two suspected) before being taken out of the church. After it was stolen, the Oratory was pillaged of other artworks, along with choir stalls of carved and gilded wood and benches inlaid with precious woods and mother of pearl. | $20,000,000[18] | ? | ||||
Le pigeon aux petits pois (The Pigeon with Green Peas[19]) is a 1911 painting by Pablo Picasso.[20] It was one of five paintings stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris on May 20, 2010, which together are worth about €100 million ($123 million). The painting has supposedly been discarded, as one of the thief's accomplices, Jonathan Birn, who was supposed to keep it safe, claims to have destroyed it. [21] | $28,000,000[22] | ? | |||||
| Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France | Still Life with Candlestick (Nature morte au chandelier) is a 1922 painting by Fernand Léger. It was one of five paintings stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris on May 20, 2010, which together are worth about €100 million ($123 million). The painting has supposedly been discarded, as one of the thief's accomplices, Jonathan Birn, who was supposed to keep it safe, claims to have destroyed it. | $28,000,000 | ? | ||||
| Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium | The Just Judges (145 × 51 cm) is the lower left panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan van Eyck or his brother Hubert Van Eyck. As part of the altarpiece, it was displayed at the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, until stolen during the night of April 10, 1934, possibly by the Belgian Arsène Goedertier (Lede, December 23, 1876 – Dendermonde, November 25, 1934). The bishop of Ghent received a ransom demand for one million Belgian francs. On November 25, 1934, the thief revealed on his deathbed that he was the only one who knew where the masterpiece was hidden, and that he would take the secret to his grave. Although several people have claimed to know its whereabouts, the painting has never been recovered and is now believed by many to be destroyed. The panel was replaced in 1945 by a copy by Belgian copyist Jef Vanderveken. | Unknown | ? | ||||
| October 15–16, 2012 | Unknown | ? | |||||
| October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? | ||||
| October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? | ||||
| October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? | ||||
| October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? | ||||
| Self-Portrait (Autoportrait, circa 1889-91) by Meyer de Haan (Meijer de Haan) | October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? | |||
| October 15–16, 2012 |
| Unknown | ? |
See main article: List of claims for restitution for Nazi-looted art.
| Painting | Title, Artist | Date taken | Location | Details | Estimated value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stassfurt salt mines art repository near Magdeburg | Listed as "missing" on the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art's website. Property of Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg, Germany (formerly the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum).[26] | inestimable | missing | |||
| 1940s | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is a 1907 painting by Gustav Klimt. According to press reports it was sold for US$135 million to Ronald Lauder for his Neue Galerie New York in June 2006, which made it at that time the most expensive painting for about 4 months.[27] It has been on display at the gallery since July 2006. Klimt took three years to complete the painting. It measures 138 cm × 138 cm and is made of oil and gold on canvas, showing elaborate and complex ornamentation as seen in Jugendstil. Klimt was a member of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists that broke away from the traditional way of painting. Adele Bloch-Bauer, in her will, asked her husband to donate the Klimt paintings to the Austrian State Gallery upon his death.[28] She died in 1925 from meningitis. When the Nazis took over Austria, her widowed husband had to flee to Switzerland. His property, including the Klimt paintings, was confiscated. In his 1945 testament, Bloch-Bauer designated his nephew and nieces, including Maria Altmann, as the inheritors of his estate.[29] | $135,000,000 | Returned to Maria Altmann, niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer. See main article Republic of Austria v. Altmann | |||
| 1940s | Portrait of a Young Man is a painting in oil on panel, probably from 1513 to 1514, by the Italian High Renaissance Old Master painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino better known simply as Raphael.[30] The painting was plundered by the Nazis in Poland. The subject's identity is unverified, but many scholars have traditionally regarded it as Raphael's self-portrait. The facial features are perceived by specialists as compatible with, if not clearly identical to, the only undoubted self-portrait by Raphael in his fresco The School of Athens at the Vatican, identified as such by Vasari. If it is a self-portrait, no hint is given of Raphael's profession; the portrait shows a richly dressed and "confidently-poised" young man.[31] In recent times, a book about Nazi plunder by Lynn H. Nicholas and a documentary film by the same title, The Rape of Europa, suggested that if the painting were to reappear today, it would be worth in excess of US$100M. | $100,000,000[32] | Falsely reported to have been found 1 August 2012, the location is still unknown. | |||
| c. 1936 | Kronprinzenpalais, Nationalgalerie, Berlin | En Canot (shown here in black and white) was exhibited at the Kronprinzenpalais, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, where it had been housed since 1927. The work was acquired by the Nationalgalerie in 1936 (on deposit by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Kunst und Volksbildung), where it was placed on display in Room 5. It was later confiscated by the Nazis around 1936, displayed at the Degenerate Art Exhibition (Entartete Kunst) in Munich and other cities, 1937–38, and has been missing ever since | $2,400,000 | Missing, presumed destroyed | ||
| Allegory of Christian Beliefc. 1622 | home of Jewish art collector Arthur Feldmann | in 1939 the Nazi Gestapo confiscated roughly 750 Old Master drawings from Feldmann after they invaded Brno in the present-day Czech Republic | at Cleveland Museum of Art in the USA, settlement with Feldmann family in 2013[33] | |||
| “Young Couple in a Landscape” by Georg Penz | 1939 | home of Jewish art collector Arthur Feldmann | in 1939 the Nazi Gestapo confiscated roughly 750 Old Master drawings from Feldmann after they invaded Brno in the present-day Czech Republic | The Penz was sold at Sotheby’s in 1946. The art collector Rosi Schilling donated it to the British Museum, which settled a Nazi spoliation claim from Feldmann's grandson in 2013.[34] | ||
| Painting | Title, Artist | Date stolen | Date recovered | Location of theft | Details | Estimated value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musée du Louvre, Paris, France | Now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The painting's continued and increasing fame was heightened when it was stolen.[35] The Louvre was closed for an entire week to aid the investigation.[36] Recovered after the thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, attempted to sell it. | Assessed in 1962 at $100 million.[37] Adjusted for inflation, it would be worth $782 million today. | |||||
| Paul Rosenberg, Paris | One of around 450 paintings looted from the collection of Paul Rosenberg by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). Missing for over 70 years, it was discovered in the Munich home of Cornelius Gurlitt in 2012 and later returned to Rosenberg's heirs.[38] | ||||||
| Tate Gallery, London | Stolen in broad daylight by Paul Hogan and Bill Fogarty to highlight Ireland's claim to the Hugh Lane bequest of 39 important works of art. The painting was returned anonymously several days later via the Irish Embassy.[39] | £7m today | |||||
| National Gallery, London | Stolen 19 days after it was put on display at the National Gallery by bus driver Kempton Bunton as a protest at the cost of the television licence. Bunton returned the painting in 1965 via the left luggage office at .[40] | ||||||
| Damaged after the burglars cut it out of its frame, and restored in 1990. | Total value $30,000,000 | ||||||
| University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | Cut out of its frame shortly after the museum opened that day. Sketches of a couple believed to be responsible were distributed widely but they were never identified; the couple in whose home the painting was found after their deaths in the 2010s has been suspected. Currently being restored.[41] | Insured for $400,000 at the time of theft; however the market value of similar de Kooning works had increased to above $100 million by the time it was recovered and the museum believes it is worth $160 million today | |||||
| Maastricht, Netherlands | Stolen with eight other paintings from art dealer Robert Noortman. One painting burnt, eight recovered (some damaged).[42] | ||||||
| La Clairière by Auguste Renoir | Maastricht, Netherlands | Stolen with eight other paintings from art dealer Robert Noortman. One painting burnt, eight recovered (some damaged). | |||||
| In the Omnibus by Honoré Daumier | Summer 1992 | Redisplayed 2013 | Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin | Water colour unscrewed from wall during children's art class. Details of recovery not released.[43] | £250,000 in 1992 | ||
| Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Titian | Longleat House, UK | Recovered undamaged in London[44] | c.£10,000,000 | ||||
and 2004 | and 2006 | National Gallery, Oslo and Munch Museum, Oslo | The Scream has been the target of several high-profile art thefts. In 1994, the version in the National Gallery, Oslo was stolen. It was recovered several months later. In 2004, both The Scream and Madonna were stolen from the Munch Museum. | $110,000,000 | |||
| Galleria Ricci-Oddi, Piacenza, Italy | Believed to have been stolen shortly before a special exhibition was planned at the gallery in Piacenza. Recovered after 23 years hidden in the gallery wall in Piacenza. | €60 million[45] | |||||
| The Gardener by Vincent van Gogh | Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome | Theft included two paintings by Van Gogh and one by Paul Cézanne. Recovered by the Carabinieri Art Squad a few weeks later. | Three paintings estimated combined value: $34 million | ||||
| Still on Top by James Tissot | Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zeland | Severely Damaged when Return, Later Restored | $2,000,000 | ||||
| Conversation by Pierre-Auguste Renoir | December 22, 2000 | April 2001 | Nationalmuseum, Stockholm | Stolen with a Rembrandt and another Renoir by armed raiders. Conversation was recovered in a drugs raid, the other two paintings were recovered in 2005.[46] | |||
| Nationalmuseum, Stockholm | The small self-portrait on copper by Rembrandt was stolen from Nationalmuseum in Stockholm along with Renoir's A Young Parisienne and Conversation in an armed robbery in December 2000. It was recovered in Copenhagen. Conversation was recovered in Stockholm a few months after the robbery and A Young Parisienne was recovered in Los Angeles in 2006.[47] | $37,000,000 | |||||
| View of the Sea at Scheveningen by Vincent van Gogh | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Recovered in Naples. | Part of a $30,000,000 art heist. | ||||
| Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Recovered in Naples. | Part of a $30,000,000 art heist. | ||||
| February 10, 2008 | April 12, 2012[48] | Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich, Switzerland | An 1894/95[49] painting (Venturi 681) depicting a boy in traditional Italian attire. Stolen along with three other pieces.[50] It was the museum's most valuable painting. Recovered in Serbia. | $91,000,000[51] | |||
| Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich, Switzerland | An 1870 painting stolen from Foundation E.G. Bührle in Zürich, Switzerland. Four paintings were stolen altogether with two of them being returned in 2008. Degas also painted Viscount Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic in the 1875 painting Place de la Concorde. Recovered in Serbia.[52] | Part of a $162.5 million art heist[53] [54] [55] | |||||
| Les Choristes by Edgar Degas | Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (stolen while on loan to Musée Cantini, Marseille) | Recovered outside Paris. | €800,000 | ||||
| Stammer Mill by Piet Mondrian | National Gallery, Athens, Greece | One of three paintings stolen from the Greek National Gallery in a 2012 heist. Recovered from a dry river bed near Keratea, East Attica, Greece.[56] | |||||
| Head of a Woman by Pablo Picasso | National Gallery, Athens, Greece | One of three paintings stolen from the Greek National Gallery in a 2012 heist. Recovered from a dry river bed near Keratea, East Attica, Greece. | |||||
| Palace Hübner, Andrássy 94 szám, Budapest | Recovered via agreement | €1million | |||||
| The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh | September 11, 2023 | Singer Laren Museum, Laren, Netherlands | Had been on loan from Groningen Museum[57] | £5,000,000 (estimated) | |||
| [58] | |||||||
| The Schoolmistress by John Opie | July 1969 | January 11, 2024 | Home of Dr. Earl Wood, Newark, New Jersey[59] | Stolen by three men working under the direction of state senator Anthony Imperiale |