Hey there! Did you know that art theft is one of the most expensive crimes in the world, costing around four to six billion dollars? Only drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms dealing are more costly. What’s even crazier is that only about two to six percent of stolen art is ever recovered. Let’s dive into some of the most famous art heists in history!
In 1990, two men dressed as police officers tricked their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They tied up the guards and stole over $600 million worth of art, including five pieces by Degas. This remains the largest property theft in U.S. history, and none of the paintings have been found.
Back in 1975, Myles J. Connor Jr. stole a Rembrandt from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Interestingly, he was on trial for another burglary at the time! He later returned the painting in exchange for a reduced sentence, serving four years instead of fifteen.
Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” has four versions, and two have been stolen. In 1994, one was taken from Oslo’s National Gallery but was recovered three months later. In 2004, another version was snatched from the Munch Museum in broad daylight. It was found two years later.
In 1911, a handyman named Vincenzo Perugia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The theft made the painting even more famous. Perugia tried to sell it in Florence two years later but was caught and served eight months in prison.
In 2003, two men posing as tourists stole Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna with the Yarnwinder” from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland. They casually walked out with the $50 million painting. It was recovered in 2007, and four men were arrested.
Elmyr de Hory was a Hungarian artist who sold forgeries of famous paintings for 30 years. His work was so convincing that even experienced art buyers were fooled. He became famous in his own right, inspiring other forgers.
In 2011, a Rembrandt drawing worth $250,000 was stolen from a hotel in Marina del Rey. The hotel’s curator was distracted by a guest, allowing the thief to escape. The drawing was found two days later in a pastor’s office.
In 1951, Renoir’s “Landscape on the Banks of the Seine” was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art. It resurfaced in 2012 at a flea market in West Virginia, where a woman bought it for $7. A judge ordered its return to the museum.
Since 1934, one panel of Jan van Eyck’s “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” has been missing. Known as “Just Judges,” it was stolen from a cathedral in Ghent. Despite ransom notes, the piece remains lost.
In 1945, Texan Joe Meador was suspected of stealing medieval artworks from Quedlinburg, Germany. The pieces vanished from a mine shaft during World War II, shortly after American troops arrived.
In 2011, a bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth was stolen from Dulwich Park in London. Investigators believed metal thieves took it for scrap, worth only $1,250 compared to its $800,000 art value.
In 2005, a Henry Moore sculpture was stolen from his estate in Hertfordshire. Thieves used a crane and truck to remove it, receiving only $2,500 for scrap despite its $5 million value.
During Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival in 2006, armed men stole $50 million in paintings from the Chacara do Céu museum. They vanished into the crowd, making it onto the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes list.
In 2000, a thief replaced Monet’s “Beach in Pourville” with a cardboard copy at the National Museum of Poland. It took a decade to catch him, and the original was found hanging on his wall.
In 2003, thieves stole paintings from the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. They left them in a nearby bathroom with a note saying they wanted to highlight poor security.
In 2010, a burglar stole five paintings worth over $100 million from the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. A faulty alarm system was partly blamed for the theft.
In 1991, two men stole 20 paintings from the Van Gogh Museum but abandoned them 35 minutes later. In 2002, burglars took two paintings, but DNA evidence led to their capture.
In 2002, thieves dug a tunnel into Paraguay’s National Fine Arts Museum, stealing five paintings during a major exhibition.
In 2010, thieves used a speedboat to escape after stealing $30 million in paintings from Stockholm’s National Museum. They distracted police with decoy bombs, but the paintings were eventually recovered.
In 2008, masked men stole paintings worth $163 million from the E. G. Bührle Collection in Zurich. Two paintings were found a week later, and the others were recovered in 2012.
In 1961, Kempton Bunton stole Goya’s “Portrait of the Duke of Wellington” from London’s National Gallery. He confessed in 1965 but was only convicted of stealing the frame.
Rembrandt’s “Jacob de Gheyn III” holds the record for being stolen and recovered four times, making it the world’s most frequently stolen artwork.
In 1946, three paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe were stolen but not reported missing until 1972. She won a lawsuit for their return in 1976.
In 1969, thieves stole seven paintings from Stephen Hahn’s gallery in New York City while he was discussing art theft with the Art Directors Association of America.
In 1983, 106 items were stolen from the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. The thief confessed on his deathbed, and his wife was later convicted of receiving stolen property.
Thanks for joining this art heist adventure! If you have any mind-blowing questions, feel free to ask. Remember, learning can be fun and exciting!
Imagine you are a detective tasked with solving one of the famous art heists mentioned in the article. Create a short skit with your classmates, where you act out the investigation process. Use clues from the article to guide your storyline. This will help you understand the complexities and challenges involved in solving art crimes.
Choose one of the art thieves from the article and design a “Wanted” poster. Include details such as the thief’s name, the artwork stolen, and any known aliases or characteristics. This activity will help you remember key details about the heists and the individuals involved.
Work in groups to create a timeline of the art heists discussed in the article. Use a large sheet of paper or a digital tool to plot the events chronologically. Include dates, locations, and the artworks involved. This will help you visualize the historical context and frequency of these heists.
Write and present a news report about one of the art heists. Include interviews with “witnesses” or “experts” (your classmates) and discuss the impact of the theft on the art world. This activity will enhance your public speaking skills and deepen your understanding of the heist’s significance.
Imagine you are in charge of securing a museum. Design a security system to prevent art thefts like those in the article. Consider technology, personnel, and procedures. Present your plan to the class, explaining how it addresses vulnerabilities highlighted in the heists. This will encourage critical thinking and problem-solving.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi YouTube, it’s Akilah, and if you click on my face, you can check out my channel, SmoothieFreak. This is Mental Floss on YouTube. Did you know that art theft has caused about four to six billion dollars in losses around the world? The only more costly crimes are drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms dealing. Plus, the average recovery rate for stolen art is only about two to six percent. Today I’m going to tell you about some art heists. So let’s get started.
[Intro]
In 1990, two men posing as police demanded to be let into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They tied up the two museum guards in the basement and then raided the museum. In the largest property theft in U.S. history, the pair collected over six hundred million dollars worth of art, including five pieces by Degas. Not a single painting has been recovered.
Also in Boston, Myles J. Connor Jr. stole a Rembrandt portrait from the Museum of Fine Arts in 1975 on the same day jurors were being picked for his trial in another burglary case! Nine months later, Connor brokered the painting’s return for a reduced sentence in that other case. He ended up with a four-year sentence rather than fifteen years. He was in jail at the time of the Gardner Museum heist, but some suspect Connor may have been involved.
There are four different versions of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, so it has technically been stolen twice. In 1994, it was taken from Oslo’s National Gallery and recovered three months later. On August 22, 2004, a different version was stolen from Oslo’s Munch Museum in broad daylight. Armed thieves took it right off the wall. Police found the getaway car containing two empty frames, but the painting was recovered two years later.
Also on August 22 — this time in 1911, Louvre handyman Vincenzo Perugia stole the Mona Lisa. Suspects included J.P. Morgan and Pablo Picasso, which made the crime and the painting infamous, making it impossible for Perugia to sell it off quickly. Two years later, Perugia tried to sell the Mona Lisa to an art dealer in Florence, who promptly turned him in. Perugia was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Another da Vinci piece, Madonna with the Yarnwinder, was stolen in 2003 when two men, posing as tourists at Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland, used an ax to grab it during a tour. Security cameras captured them leaving the castle with a $50 million painting casually tucked under one arm. In 2007, officers recovered the painting and arrested four men.
For 30 years, Hungarian Elmyr de Hory sold forgeries of paintings by artists like Picasso, Matisse, and Degas. His forgeries were so detailed that they could trick extremely experienced art buyers. He attracted his own following and, eventually, his own forgers!
On August 13, 2011, a Rembrandt drawing (worth around $250,000) was lifted from the Marina del Rey Ritz-Carlton. The hotel’s curator was actually right there but distracted by a guest. The piece was recovered two days later in a pastor’s office in Encino, CA. He wasn’t a suspect.
In 1937, a private collector loaned Renoir’s “Landscape on the Banks of the Seine” to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it was stolen in 1951. In 2012, it resurfaced at a West Virginia flea market when a woman paid $7 for it (it’s worth at least $75,000). A judge ordered that the painting be returned to the Baltimore museum.
“The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” a 24-panel piece by Jan van Eyck, has only had 23 panels since 1934 when a panel, known as “Just Judges,” was stolen from a cathedral in Ghent. The police showed up late to the crime scene and didn’t stay long because they were in the middle of investigating another theft. Thirteen subsequent ransom notes sent to the bishop promised its return in exchange for one million Belgian francs. Shockingly, the bishop wasn’t interested in negotiating with the criminals. The piece remains missing.
A decade after he died, Texan Joe Meador became the prime suspect in the 1945 theft of a collection of medieval artworks and manuscripts from the town of Quedlinburg. The pieces were moved to a mine shaft during World War II, which is where they disappeared from – just days after American troops, including Meador, occupied the area.
In December 2011, a bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth was stolen from its perch in London’s Dulwich Park. Investigators speculated that the culprits were metal thieves rather than art thieves. Once melted down for scrap, the piece would be worth about $1,250. In its art form? More than $800,000.
Something similar happened in December 2005 when a Henry Moore sculpture was stolen from the Henry Moore Foundation estate in Hertfordshire. Thieves used a crane and truck to remove the sculpture quickly. It was originally worth $5 million, but the thieves went the scrapyard route and received around $2,500.
In 2006, during Rio de Janeiro’s annual Carnival, four armed men were able to grab approximately $50 million in paintings from the Chacara do Céu art museum, including works by Picasso, Monet, and Dali. Then, they managed to disappear into the crowd of partygoers. This made the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes.
Speaking of Monet, a cardboard copy of “Beach in Pourville” was left in place of the original and almost fooled authorities at the National Museum of Poland, who were unknowingly robbed in September 2000. It took police a decade to catch the thief, who had the original artwork hanging on his wall.
In April 2003, at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, thieves eluded alarms, guards, and security cameras while the museum was closed. They took off with paintings from Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Picasso. All three were recovered in a public bathroom less than a quarter mile away with a note: “The intention was not to steal, only to highlight the woeful security.”
On May 20, 2010, a burglar took five paintings from the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. He broke a padlock and smashed a window to take paintings by Picasso, Matisse, and Modigliani — worth more than $100 million. Officials partially blamed the incident on the new alarm system, which wasn’t functioning properly.
In 1991, what could have been one of the art world’s most expensive heists turned out to be one of its shortest lived instead. Two men stole 20 paintings from the Van Gogh Museum, only to abandon all of them in the getaway car 35 minutes later. The Van Gogh Museum was also a target in December 2002 when burglars took two paintings. Thanks to DNA evidence and eyewitness accounts, the men were quickly caught and sentenced to more than three years in prison each. The paintings haven’t been recovered.
In July 2002, five paintings were stolen from the National Fine Arts Museum in Paraguay, which was hosting one of the biggest exhibitions in its history. The thieves had rented a shop 80 feet from the museum and then recruited people to help them dig a 10-foot tunnel into the museum.
In 2010, thieves stormed Stockholm’s National Museum with a machine gun, stole $30 million worth of paintings (a Rembrandt and two Renoirs), and escaped on a speedboat. They distracted police with decoy bombs, making the heist possible. The paintings were eventually recovered, and eight men were convicted.
On February 10, 2008, three masked men arrived at the entrance of the E. G. Bührle Collection in Zurich, forced employees onto the ground, and stole paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh, and Monet, worth an estimated $163 million. Two of the paintings were found about a week later in a car parked in a nearby hospital parking lot. The Cézanne and Degas paintings were recovered separately in 2012.
In August 1961, Kempton Bunton climbed through an unlocked window of a restroom in London’s National Gallery and allegedly stole Francisco Goya’s “Portrait of the Duke of Wellington.” Bunton was a 61-year-old retired bus driver who stole it in protest of the government’s decision to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the painting in Britain. He confessed in 1965 but was only convicted of stealing the frame and served three months. The story got weirder in 2012 when Bunton’s son confessed to the crime, even though his father had already been tried. No charges were filed.
On an early December 1966 morning, someone took a drill to a door at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery. They stole eight pieces—including Rembrandt’s “Jacob de Gheyn III.” All of the paintings were recovered less than a week later. This same painting was stolen (and recovered) three more times. It holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s most frequently stolen artwork.
In 1946, three paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe were stolen from An American Place, a gallery run by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. She didn’t want to upset him, so O’Keeffe didn’t report them missing until 1972. In 1976, the paintings were sold to the Princeton Gallery of Fine Art. O’Keeffe filed a lawsuit for their return, and though the statute of limitations had expired, the court sided with her.
On November 17, 1969, thieves picked the lock of art dealer Stephen Hahn’s gallery in New York City and stole seven paintings, including works by Cassatt and Monet, worth approximately $500,000. Ironically, while his gallery was being robbed, Hahn was with the board of directors at the Art Directors Association of America discussing art theft.
Finally, I return to my salon to tell you about the largest robbery in Israel’s history. In 1983, 106 paintings, artifacts, and watches were stolen from the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. This included a $30 million pocket watch made by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Marie Antoinette. In 2004, notorious criminal Naaman Diller admitted the theft to his wife on his deathbed. She was convicted of receiving stolen property in 2010 and sentenced to five years’ probation and 300 hours of community service. One of the many reasons to not marry notorious criminals.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week, we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This week’s question comes from Benji Buttons, who asks, “When did people start using wallets?” Well, people have used some form of wallet basically since coins started becoming currency and they needed somewhere to stash them. The modern bi-fold wallet with all of the card slots became standardized in the early 1950s when credit cards were first introduced.
If you have a mind-blowing question you’d like answered, leave it in the comments, and we’ll try to answer it. Thanks for watching, I’m Akilah, and don’t forget to be awesome.
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
Art – The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture. – The Renaissance period is known for its remarkable contributions to art, with artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo creating timeless masterpieces.
Theft – The action or crime of stealing. – The theft of the famous painting from the museum shocked the art world and prompted an international investigation.
Heist – A robbery or theft, especially one involving a large amount of money or valuable items. – The heist at the art gallery was meticulously planned, with the thieves making off with several priceless works of art.
Painting – A picture or design executed in paints. – Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night” is celebrated for its vibrant colors and emotional depth.
Museum – A building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. – The Louvre Museum in Paris is home to thousands of artworks, including the famous Mona Lisa.
Stolen – Having been taken unlawfully. – The stolen sculpture was eventually recovered and returned to the museum after being missing for several years.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs. – Art history allows us to understand the cultural and social contexts in which artworks were created.
Recovery – The action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. – The recovery of the stolen painting was celebrated as a major success by the museum and law enforcement agencies.
Forger – A person who produces fraudulent copies or imitations of works of art. – The forger was skilled at replicating famous paintings, making it difficult for experts to distinguish the fakes from the originals.
Sculpture – The art of making two- or three-dimensional representative or abstract forms, especially by carving stone or wood or by casting metal or plaster. – Michelangelo’s sculpture of David is renowned for its exquisite detail and lifelike representation.
