FX.co ★ Most notorious art thefts in history

The Coţofeneşti Helmet

In January of this year, an explosion rocked the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands. Thieves broke in and stole priceless historical artifacts, including the Coţofeneşti helmet, crafted around 450 BC and discovered by a child in a Romanian village in 1927, along with three gold Dacian bracelets. The artifacts had been loaned by the National Museum of Romanian History for an exhibition on ancient Dacia. Experts say such objects are almost impossible to sell and fear that these unique treasures may be lost forever.

The Mona Lisa

In the summer of 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, sparking international outrage. Even famous artists were briefly suspected — among them Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire. However, neither had any connection to the theft. Two years later, it was revealed that the painting had been taken by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former museum employee who tried to sell it illegally in Italy. He was quickly caught, and the masterpiece was returned to the Louvre.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring

On March 30, 2020 — the birthday of Vincent van Gogh — his painting The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884) was stolen from the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands. The thief smashed a glass door and escaped before the police arrived, despite the alarm being triggered. The painting, valued at €5 million, belonged to the Groninger Museum and was its only Van Gogh. A year later, police arrested Nils M., who was later convicted, but the artwork itself was not recovered until the autumn of 2023.

The Ghent Altarpiece

The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck is one of Europe’s greatest artistic treasures and the subject of one of the most mysterious art thefts of the 20th century. In the 1930s, two panels — The Just Judges and John the Baptist — were stolen from St. Bavo’s Cathedral. The thief soon demanded a ransom from the bishop of Ghent. After complex negotiations, only the John the Baptist panel was returned. The fate of The Just Judges remains unknown to this day.

Reclining Figure

Exactly 20 years ago, the UK witnessed one of the boldest thefts of modern sculpture. Thieves broke into the Henry Moore Foundation and stole his massive bronze sculpture Reclining Figure, weighing about 2 tons and measuring 3 meters in length. Though valued at £3 million, police believe the thieves sold the metal for scrap for just £1,500. Neither the sculpture nor any fragments of it have ever been found.

The Scream and Madonna

In the summer of 2004, armed robbers stormed the Munch Museum in Oslo in broad daylight, ordering visitors to the floor and seizing two paintings — The Scream and Madonna. Police traced the thieves through wiretapped calls and discovered the paintings hidden on a farm. Both works were recovered in 2006 after arrests and a trial. Notably, another version of The Scream had also been stolen earlier, in 1994, by former footballer Pål Enger, who climbed into the gallery with a ladder and escaped in just 50 seconds.

Impression, Sunrise

Forty years ago, the Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris was the scene of one of the boldest daylight robberies in art history. A group of armed men stormed the museum, holding nine guards and around 40 visitors at gunpoint. They removed nine paintings from the walls, including Claude Monet’s legendary Impression, Sunrise. The total value of the stolen works was about $20 million, though Monet’s masterpiece was considered priceless. Five years later, all the paintings were recovered from a villa in Corsica, and seven men were convicted.

The Sunflowers

In the early 1990s, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was the target of one of its fastest and most daring heists. Two armed, masked men forced guards to disable the alarm system and, in just 45 minutes, stole 20 paintings, including Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers. The thieves stuffed the canvases into garment bags, damaging several of them. Just hours later, the car containing the paintings was found abandoned at Amstel Station, and all the stolen works were safely returned to the museum.