Stolen Renoir paintings recovered after museum burglary in France

Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir stolen from a museum on the French Riviera have been recovered almost a month after a burglary.

Both works are damaged and in need of restoration, according to Reuters press agency.

The paintings, Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well, were valued at approximately €4.2m (£3.6m). They were stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on 8 September, when thieves broke into the grounds through a hole cut in a garden fence and entered the building through a window.

Six suspects were arrested earlier this month following an investigation involving DNA evidence, mobile phone geolocation data and surveillance footage, according to Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone. Four men have since been charged in connection with the theft.

The two men suspected of carrying out the burglary were charged with organised theft and other offences. A third man, accused of concealing the paintings, was charged with organised handling of stolen goods. A fourth, who investigators say was approached about buying the works, was charged with handling stolen goods and participation in a criminal conspiracy.

The paintings were found hidden behind a false wall in a house. One of the works, Madame Colonna Romano, had been torn, and both will require restoration.

The thieves also attempted to steal two further Renoir paintings, Madame Pichon and Coco Reading, which depicts the artist’s young son Claude. They abandoned the works in the museum gardens as they fled after police arrived.

Second theft 'imminent'

The investigation was accelerated after one of the suspects visited another museum, raising concerns among investigators that a second theft could be imminent.

The suspects have denied planning another raid. Bessone said he did not believe the principal suspect had visited the other museum simply out of a love of art.

The investigation involved the Marseille interregional specialised court, police forces and France’s Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC), which specialises in crimes involving cultural goods.

Bryon Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, welcomed the recovery in a statement on Instagram, describing it as “an immense joy and a genuine relief” for the town.

He congratulated the court in Marseille and the national and municipal police, and paid tribute to investigators from the Alpes-Maritimes judicial police service and the OCBC, who he said had pursued their inquiries “with determination and discretion”.

“These two paintings are not simply works of art,” Masson said. “They belong to the history of our town, to our heritage and to the legacy left by Auguste Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer.”

He added: “Our heritage is precious. We will continue to do everything we can to protect it.”

The burglary came amid a spate of museum heists in Europe in recent years. In August, the European crime agency Europol warned of a shift in the way criminals are targeting museums, with a trend towards "super-fast" smash-and-grab raids involving a growing use of force.

Recent museum heists

• December 2024 Four hooded suspects, equipped with baseball bats and axes, stormed into the Cognacq-Jay art museum in Paris, France, taking seven gold and diamond-adorned objects.
• January 2025 Dacian archaeological artefacts, including the golden helmet of Cotofenesti,  were stolen from Dutch Drents Museum, in Assen, the Netherlands, after the perpetrators detonated explosives at the door to gain entry.
• October 2025 Several items, including Bronze Age gold jewellery, were stolen from a display case at Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru – St Fagans National Museum of History near Cardiff. The Louvre Museum in Paris, France, was targeted by criminals who threatened guards and visitors in a smash-and-grab jewel heist.
• March 2026 Masked thieves stole three Impressionist and Modern masterpieces valued collectively at €9m from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Parma, Italy, in a night-time burglary. The paintings were recovered this month.
• July 2026 A masked gang stole 27 rare pieces of Art Nouveau and Art Deco jewellery and art, worth around €4.5m, from the Musée Lalique in Alsace, France, in an overnight raid. And a 2,500-year-old gold torque was taken from the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais – Trésor de Vix in daylight by two men posing as visitors.
• August 2026 A set of four rare renaissance artworks were stolen the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina in Sicily in an overnight smash-and-grab that appears to have been deliberately timed to coincide with a local festival. Two more raids, both of which occurred on the same day, saw the theft of a diamond necklace from the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts, Austria, and a prehistoric gold treasure trove from the Museum of Villena in the Alicante, Spain.