FX.co ★ Amazing stories of stolen then found pictures

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci

Some art experts say that the "Mona Lisa" was not widely known at the beginning of the XX century. It became world famous only after it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911.

Italian Vincenzo Peruggia, a handyman who installed protective glass cases over paintings, hid in a closet before the crime. On August 21, he took out the picture, got rid of the frame on the stairs and put the masterpiece under his clothes.

For two long years, the world knew nothing about the whereabouts of La Gioconda until the thief was caught having tried to sell the stolen masterpiece in Italy. All that time, he kept da Vinci's work in his Paris apartment in a double-bottomed suitcase.

Sunflowers, Vincent van Gogh

The Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam, known also as the Stedelijk Museum, was robbed several times: in 1972, the thief took 54 paintings by famous artists. Luckily, most of them had already been found.

On May 21, 1988, the robbery took place again. There were three missing paintings: one of the original of "Sunflowers" by Vincent van Gogh, "A street in Nevers" by Johan Jongkind, and "Still life with bottles and apples" by Paul Cezanne. To the delight of art lovers, the paintings were discovered two weeks later when the thieves attempted to sell the pictures.

Potato Eaters And Other 20 Paintings by Vincent van Gogh

One of the biggest art thefts in history since World War II occurred at the Van Gogh Museum in 1991. Twenty paintings of the famous Dutch artist were taken out of the gallery.

Luckily, when the thieves put all the pictures in the car they found out that one of the car’s wheels got a flat tire. Therefore, they had to leave empty-handed. Nevertheless, the damage was done: three paintings were badly torn. The thieves appeared before the court only a few months later.

View Of Sea At Scheveningen, Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, Vincent van Gogh

Ten years later, in 2002, two paintings were stolen again from the Museum of Van Gogh. The thieves who sneaked into the building on the night of December 7th concealed their identities under masks and took out canvases that were practically unguarded and uninsured.

In September 2016, the Italian police managed to trace the looters. They found them in the shelter of one of the mafia's leaders - Drug Lord Raffaele Imperiale.

Scream, Edvard Munch

The famous canvas of the Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch "The Scream" has been stolen several times: in 1994, one of the four versions of the painting was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo, ten years later the same fate befell another version along with "Madonna" in the Munch Museum.

If the first time the masterpiece was found relatively quickly (as a result of a special operation carried out by a secret agent), the second time the paintings were retrieved by the police only in 2006. It took another two years to fix the moisture-damaged paintings and return them to the museum.

Paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Pablo Picasso

On April 23, 2003, three of the most renowned world’s paintings were stolen: "Fortifications of Paris with houses " by Vincent van Gogh," "Tahitian Landscape" by Paul Gauguin, and "Poverty" by Pablo Picasso.

However, this case stands out from others because of one peculiar detail: a couple of days later, the paintings were found rolled up in a public toilet nearby with a note where the thieves expressed their concern about the weak protection of art objects.

Young Parisian, Conversation With The Gardener, Pierre Auguste Renoir

On 22 December 2000, three men, one of whom was armed, broke into the National Museum in Stockholm and stole "Young Parisian" and "Conversation with the gardener" - Pierre Auguste Renoir's paintings, as well as a self-portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn.

The investigation showed that the robbers managed to escape quickly thanks to figureheads who distracted the police from the theft. The moment the alarm went off in the museum, the police received a call about the car on fire. So, precious time was lost. However, one of Renoir's paintings was soon found during a raid on drug dealers, the other two were discovered in 2005.

Madonna Of The Yarnwinder, Leonardo da Vinci

In August 2003, another painting by Leonardo da Vinci — The Madonna of the Yarnwinder was stolen. The thieves who visited the Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland as ordinary tourists could steal other masterpieces for hundreds of millions of dollars, e.g. paintings by Rembrandt and Hans Holbein. Nonetheless, their choice fell on "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder".

In 2007, Leonardo's 500-year old painting was discovered in Glasgow. Soon four men involved in the crime were arrested and convicted.

Boy In Red Vest, Paul Cezanne

It was the largest art robbery in Switzerland's history. In February 2008 the armed criminals took four masterpieces from Emil Buehrle collection in Zurich: "Poppy field near Veteya" by Claude Monet, "Flowering chestnut branches" by Vincent van Gogh, "Count Lepic and his daughters" by Edgar Degas, and "The boy in the red vest " by Paul Cezanne.

The police found the first two paintings quite quickly, while others were discovered a few years later. The most expensive of the four, a painting by Cezanne, was the last that returned to the Zurich Museum in 2012.

Al-Petri. Crimea, Arkhip Kuindzhi

Exhibiting at the Tretyakov Gallery, Arkhip Kuindzhi's painting was removed from its frame in front of all visitors on January 27, 2019. Since the alarm did not work, people thought that the canvas was taken by a museum employee.

Only two hours later, one of the security guards noticed the missing picture, and the security staff rushed to rewind the footage from the cameras. Fortunately, a few days later the picture was found in a rented apartment where the thief was arrested.