Overview
- Two thieves cut through the Renoir Museum garden fence before dawn on Tuesday, removed four paintings from their frames, triggered the alarm at 5:48 a.m., and fled as police arrived about five minutes later, leaving two works in the garden.
- Officials say two paintings remain missing — Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well — while Portrait of Madame Pichon (Portrait of Madame Stephen Pichon) and Coco Reading were recovered in the museum garden.
- Marseille prosecutors opened an investigation for theft by an organised gang and France’s specialised cultural‑property units and the national office for trafficking in cultural goods have joined a national manhunt for the suspects.
- France’s culture minister confirmed the four works belong to the Musée d'Orsay and have been on loan to the Renoir Museum since 1995, with at least two pieces carrying complex wartime provenance recorded in the national spoliation database.
- The raid adds to a recent run of high‑profile European art thefts and has intensified calls for emergency security measures, faster museum funding and wider implementation of France’s 33‑point protection plan for smaller cultural sites.