10 Most Infamous Art Heists of the 20th Century

Treasure theft has been a recurring motif in folklore for centuries. However, with the influence of literature, cinema, and media coverage, art theft has become one of the most fascinating crimes in the public eye. Here’s a curated list of the top 10 (plus one extra) art heists that occurred after World War II.

1. The Duke of Wellington – Goya

In 1961, Charles Wrightsman, a wealthy American oil tycoon and art collector, purchased Goya’s “Portrait of the Duke of Wellington” for $392,000, intending to transport it to the U.S. The decision sparked widespread public backlash in Britain, prompting the government to match the purchase price to keep the painting in the country. Just weeks after its celebrated display at the National Gallery, the artwork was stolen. The thief demanded a ransom equivalent to the purchase price, claiming the funds would be donated to charitable causes.

In 1965, the thief mailed a claim ticket to London’s Daily Mirror, leading the police to recover the painting from a railway baggage office. Kempton Bunton, an unemployed bus driver, surrendered six weeks later. He revealed his motive was to fund TV licenses for underprivileged families and served a three-month jail sentence for the crime.

2. The Flagellation of Christ – Piero della Francesca

Italy, renowned as the cradle of art, has also been a hotspot for art theft. Two masterpieces by Piero della Francesca, “The Flagellation of Christ” and “The Madonna of Senigallia,” along with Raphael’s “The Mute,” were sliced from their frames and stolen from the Ducal Palace in Urbino. This heist was famously dubbed 'the art crime of the century.'

The heist was motivated purely by financial gain. Local criminals orchestrated the theft, aiming to sell the artworks on the global market, only to find that even the most iconic masterpieces are notoriously difficult to sell. The paintings were eventually found unharmed in Locarno, Switzerland, in March 1976.

3. Various Paintings – Renoir, Monet, Corot

In 1985, nine paintings, including Renoir’s “Bathers” and Monet’s “Impression, Soleil Levant,” the work that coined the term Impressionism, were stolen from Paris’s Marmottan Museum. Initially, police suspected the radical group Action Directe. However, after a tip from a fence, several paintings stolen from a French provincial museum in 1984 were recovered in Japan. These included works by Corot and were linked to Shuinichi Fujikuma, a notorious gangster who orchestrated the Marmottan theft. Fujikuma had even distributed a catalog of the nine paintings prior to the heist.

Japan’s brief statute of limitations for stolen art was infamous, fueling rumors that the Yakuza had infiltrated the art world. The reality, however, was less dramatic. Fujikuma had been arrested in France in 1978 with 7.8 kilos of heroin. During his five-year prison term, he met Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun, members of an art theft ring, who executed the heist on his behalf. The stolen paintings were eventually recovered in 1991—in Corsica.

4. Pacal’s Burial Mask – Historical

In December 1985, staff at Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology arrived to find glass panels removed from seven display cases. Among the 140 stolen artifacts were jade and gold items from Maya, Aztec, Zapotec, and Mixtec cultures. Felipe Solis, the curator, noted that a single piece—a monkey-shaped vase—could fetch over $20 million on the market, assuming a buyer could be found.

Most of the stolen artifacts were small, measuring around an inch in height. The entire collection could easily fit into a couple of suitcases. This remains the largest theft of precious objects on record. Fortunately, the Burial Mask was eventually recovered.

5. Rayfish with Basket of Onions – Chardin

The burglary at Colnaghi’s Manhattan branch on East 8th Street was executed with precision. The thieves entered through a skylight, using a rope that risked a dangerous fall into the stairwell. However, once inside, their clumsiness showed as they stepped on several canvases and failed to select the most valuable pieces. Despite this, they stole 18 paintings and 10 drawings, including two Fra Angelico works insured at $4 million and Chardin’s “Rayfish with Basket of Onions.” Only 14 of the stolen items were ever recovered.

The stolen artworks were valued at an estimated $6 million to $10 million at the time, marking it as New York’s largest art heist. This incident highlighted that private galleries, often with higher insurance but lower security, can be just as lucrative targets as museums.

6. Dried Sunflowers – Van Gogh

Three Van Gogh masterpieces—“Dried Sunflowers,” “Weaver’s Interior,” and an early version of “The Potato Eaters”—were stolen from the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Holland. This theft aligned with trends in the art market, as just two weeks earlier, a report highlighted the top auction prices at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, listing five Van Gogh paintings among the top ten, including “Irises,” which sold for $53.9 million, then the highest price ever paid for a painting.

The thieves later demanded $2.5 million for the remaining two paintings. However, on July 13, 1989, the police successfully recovered the artworks without any ransom being paid.

7. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee – Rembrandt

In the early hours of March 18, two men dressed as police officers knocked on a side door of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, claiming to respond to a “disturbance” on the premises. Once inside, they overpowered the guards, handcuffed them, and locked them in the basement. The stolen artworks included Vermeer’s “The Concert,” Rembrandt’s only seascape, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” Manet’s “Chez Tortoni,” five Degas pieces, and miscellaneous items like a Chinese bronze beaker and a Napoleonic flagstaff fitting. Notably, Renaissance works such as Titian’s “Europa,” arguably the museum’s most valuable piece, were left untouched.

The stolen artworks are currently valued at $300 million. In 1997, with the investigation stalled, the museum increased the reward from $1 million to $5 million. This prompted tips from various sources, including William P. Youngworth III, a dubious Boston antiques dealer. Youngworth claimed he and Myles Connor, a notorious figure, could recover the stolen art in exchange for immunity, Connor’s release from prison, and the reward. Connor, imprisoned for another art theft, insisted he could locate the artworks if freed. However, doubts arose when reporter Tom Mashberg was shown what was allegedly Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee” in a warehouse by torchlight and given paint chips that later proved fake. The U.S. Attorney demanded proof of the artworks’ availability, but no evidence was provided, and negotiations collapsed. Connor is now free, but the art remains missing.

8. Portrait of a Persian Painter – Unknown

During Iraq’s seven-month occupation of Kuwait, the Kuwait National Museum and Dar al-Athat al-Islamiyya (House of Islamic Antiquities) were looted and set ablaze. These museums housed one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art, assembled by Kuwait’s al Sabah family in the 1970s and 1980s. Approximately 20,000 artifacts—including weapons, armor, ceramics, earthenware, seals, and decorative arts from ancient Persia, Mamluk Egypt, Mughal India, and Bronze Age Kuwait—were packed into crates and transported to the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad via a 17-truck convoy.

Initially, there was little hope of recovering the stolen artifacts except through purchasing them piecemeal on the black market. However, a team of curators traveled to Baghdad six months after the ceasefire. Between September 16 and October 20, 1991, they successfully secured the return of approximately 16,000 items.

This large-scale, state-sanctioned art theft mirrors the actions of historical conquerors, such as European monarchs and Napoleon. Saddam Hussein’s motives, much like Hitler’s, extended beyond mere theft. His goal was to obliterate Kuwait’s cultural and historical identity.

9. Wheatfield with Crows – Van Gogh

Four Dutch nationals were apprehended for stealing 20 Van Gogh paintings from Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. The artworks were recovered within an hour. Police believed that if the heist had succeeded, no ransom would have been demanded. Instead, the paintings would have been used as financial assets in the global underground economy.

Three of the stolen canvases suffered significant damage, including Van Gogh’s iconic final work, “Wheatfield with Crows.” While most stolen artworks are eventually returned in good condition, this incident serves as a stark reminder of their fragility and the unpredictability of such situations.

10. Young Parisian – Renoir

Just before closing time in late December, a man entered Stockholm’s National Museum armed with a submachine gun. He threatened an unarmed guard in the lobby while two accomplices, already inside, grabbed a 1630 Rembrandt self-portrait and two Renoir paintings, “Young Parisian” and “The Conversation,” from the second floor. Their escape was straight out of a heist film, scattering nails to deter pursuers and speeding away in a motorboat.

The thieves contacted a lawyer, demanding $10 million per painting for their return. The lead investigator requested photos as proof, which were convincing. However, the lawyer refused to disclose the thieves’ identities, citing client confidentiality and claiming he had done nothing wrong. Despite this, he is considered a suspect. Eight men have been arrested, and a warrant has been issued for a ninth, but the paintings remain missing.

Bonus: The Scream – Edvard Munch

On August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and “Madonna” were stolen at gunpoint from the Munch Museum. Officials speculated the thieves might demand a ransom. By April 8, 2005, Norwegian police arrested a suspect, and rumors surfaced on April 28 that the paintings had been burned to destroy evidence. On June 1, 2005, Oslo’s City Government offered a 2 million Norwegian kroner (approximately 250,000 euros) reward for information leading to their recovery.

In early 2006, six men with criminal histories faced trial for their roles in planning or executing the heist. Three were convicted in May 2006, receiving sentences ranging from four to eight years. Two of the convicted, Bjørn Hoen and Petter Tharaldsen, were also ordered to pay 750 million kroner (US $122 million) in restitution to the City of Oslo, where the paintings had been housed.

Both artworks were eventually recovered, though they sustained minor damage.

Source: Forbes Magazine

Technorati Tags: art, theft