Thieves steal three paintings from Renoir Museum on French Riviera
Thieves stole three paintings from the Renoir Museum in France after an initial attempt to take four. Europol notes that art theft is becoming more violent, with opportunistic gangs increasingly using social media to coordinate.
Why it matters
The shift in criminal methodology toward social media-recruited opportunists poses new challenges for museum security and law enforcement.
Thieves stole three paintings from the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera early on Tuesday, the local mayor said.
The raiders broke into the museum a little before 6 a.m. and took four paintings, Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor Bryan Masson said on his Facebook page.
Police spotted the thieves and gave chase, during which they dropped one painting but escaped with the other three, he said.
“Attacking the Renoir museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. These actions are particularly serious,” Mr. Masson said in his message.
The museum was created in 1960 in the mansion of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir on a hill in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, where he died in 1919. The collection on display in the museum includes 13 paintings from the master and some 40 sculptures, furniture and photographs.
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