When thieves pulled off a heist at a Renoir museum, it didn't go exactly go to plan
Two thieves attempted to steal valuable Renoir paintings from a museum on the French Riviera but were forced to abandon half their haul due to an alarm system. The perpetrators escaped within three minutes, leaving two of the four targeted artworks behind.
Why it matters
The heist highlights security vulnerabilities in cultural institutions housing high-value historical art.
A portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (left) and a portrait of Madame Pichon were targeted by the thieves. ( Wikimedia Commons: Pierre-Auguste Renoir )
Link copied Share Share article Thieves sliced through a fence, grabbed 9 million euros ($14.5 million) worth of art, dumped half of it in a garden and escaped in under three minutes.
That's what went down when two thieves targeted the most valuable works of the famous impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir at a museum on the French Riviera.
The theft conjured up painful memories of the crown jewels heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris last year and triggered a national search for the perpetrators.
A half-hour drive from the southern city of Nice, in Renoir's last home before he died aged 78 in 1919, lies the Renoir Museum.
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