art thieves

18 Stories

After Theft, Roaring Lion Is Back Home

Portrait of Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh that was stolen a few years ago is now back in Ottawa

(Newser) - A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill that was swapped with a forgery during the pandemic has returned to its rightful place, after two Ottawa police detectives traveled to Rome to retrieve it. Police said The Roaring Lion was stolen from the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, sometime between Christmas...

Bust Made in That Botched Warhol Heist

23-year-old man arrested, but the stolen works haven't been found

(Newser) - Police arrested a 23-year-old man on Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in a botched art heist at a gallery in the southern Netherlands targeting four valuable Andy Warhol screen prints, reports the AP . The arrest came days after thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the town...

This Art Heist Bombing Went 'Too Well'

Thieves destroy gallery, leave damaged Andy Warhol prints in street in 'amateurish' job

(Newser) - Thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the southern Netherlands and stole two works from a famous series of screen prints by American pop artist Andy Warhol and left two more badly damaged in the street as they fled the scene of the botched heist, the gallery...

'Gentleman' Thief Who Stole Munch's The Scream Dead at 57
He Stole The Scream,
Hid It in Living Room Table
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 6, 2024 12:00 PM CDT

He Stole The Scream, Hid It in Living Room Table

Ex-soccer player Pal Enger, who pulled off 1994 heist on opening day of Winter Olympics, dies at 57

(Newser) - Pal Enger, a talented Norwegian soccer player turned celebrity art thief who pulled off the sensational 1994 heist of Edvard Munch's famed The Scream painting from the National Gallery in Oslo, has died. He was 57. Tina Wulf, press officer at Valerenga Fotball, an acclaimed Oslo soccer club for...

Stolen van Gogh Was Returned in Ikea Bag

Dutch art detective said it had become a 'hot potato' in criminal underworld

(Newser) - A Dutch art detective known as the "Indiana Jones of the art world" has recovered a Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from a museum in Amsterdam during a COVID lockdown in March 2020. In a video posted on Instagram Tuesday, Arthur Brand displayed the 1884 painting Parsonage Garden at ...

Museum Shuttered by Virus 'Shocked' by Theft

Vincent van Gogh painting taken from Singer museum in Laren

(Newser) - A Dutch museum that was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic had a very unwelcome visitor or visitors in the wee hours of Monday morning: a thief or thieves who made off with a Vincent van Gogh painting. The Independent reports the 1884 work, Spring Garden, was taken around 3:...

'Born Burglar' Details How He Pulled Off Van Gogh Heist

Octave Durham spills all the details on 2002 theft in new documentary

(Newser) - "I'm a born burglar," says Octave Durham, per the New York Times , which looks at a new documentary about Durham's notorious theft of two Vincent Van Gogh paintings. Set to be broadcast Tuesday on Dutch TV, the 45-minute special by filmmaker Vincent Verweij gets the inside...

Bad News: Looks Like Suspect's Mom Did Burn Art

Paint is found in ashes of oven; works were by Picasso, Monet, others

(Newser) - It may be a case of art to ashes—and scientists are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. A Romanian museum official said yesterday that ash from the oven of a woman whose son is charged with stealing seven multimillion-dollar paintings—including a Matisse, a Picasso and...

FBI Busts 2 Selling $3M Stolen Matisse

Masterpiece had been missing for a decade

(Newser) - A decade after it was stolen, crooks thought they had found a buyer for a $3 million Henri Matisse masterpiece. But when they delivered the goods to a Miami Beach location, they were busted by undercover FBI agents, according to officials. Matisse's 1925 "Odalisque in Red Pants" was...

Thieves Hitting Museums to Steal ... Rhino Horns

Powder made from it sells for more than heroin

(Newser) - Ponder the things you'd expect a thief to steal from a museum. OK, was a rhinoceros horn on your list? Yeah, we didn't think so. The New York Times reports on a surprising new trend sweeping Europe, which has seen 30 such thefts from museums, galleries, auction houses,...

Gallery of Stolen Art Found in Picasso Suspect's Home

Cops say NJ man went on art theft spree last month

(Newser) - The New Jersey man arrested for stealing a Picass o from a San Francisco gallery last month was apparently trying to add to his personal collection of stolen art, police say. Authorities raided Mark Lugo's home in Hoboken and found 11 stolen artworks—including another Picasso drawing—worth a...

Picasso Thief Mark Lugo Arrested
 Picasso Thief Busted 
Jul 8, 2011 5:17 AM CDT

Picasso Thief Busted

NJ wine steward nabbed for theft of $200K sketch

(Newser) - A thief who strolled out of a San Francisco gallery with a stolen Picasso has been arrested and the 1965 pencil sketch has been recovered, police say. The suspect, a man who flew in from New Jersey the day before the theft, was found staying with friends in Northern California'...

Thief Nabs Picasso Drawing, Hails Taxi

And still gets away with it

(Newser) - Seems like something that deserves the " dumb criminals " label, except that he got away: A thief nabbed a $200,000 Pablo Picasso pencil drawing in a San Francisco gallery yesterday, then hailed a cab and vanished. The man, who was well-dressed and wearing dark glasses, apparently grabbed the...

Cops Hunt Tunneling Warhol Thieves
Cops Hunt Tunneling
Warhol Thieves
Dec 27, 2010 4:34 AM CST

Cops Hunt Tunneling Warhol Thieves

Crooks grab surveillance camera, too

(Newser) - Cops are hunting brazen art thieves who tunneled into a Manhattan apartment building and made off with works by Roy Lichenstein and Andy Warhol. The crooks broke into a wall of the five-story apartment in the trendy meatpacking district to grab $750,000 in art and jewelry. They also made...

Thieves Offer Scrap Dealer $1M Sculpture for $65

Stolen Chillida, Picasso works recovered

(Newser) - A Spanish gang of late contenders for the "Dumbest Criminal of 2010" award offered to sell a scrap merchant an iron sculpture worth close to $1 million ... for just $65, police say. The artwork, by Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida, has been recovered, along with works by Pablo Picasso and...

Egyptian Art Minister Busted in $50M Van Gogh Theft

Other officials detained, accused of negligence

(Newser) - The Egyptian government's head of fine arts has been arrested and accused of negligence in the theft of a $50 million Van Gogh painting . The work, known as Poppy Flowers or Vase With Flowers, was stolen from a Cairo museum during the day over the weekend. None of the alarms...

Why We Love Gutsy Art Heists
 Why We Love Gutsy Art Heists 
May 21, 2010 9:46 AM CDT

Why We Love Gutsy Art Heists

Thefts of masterpieces just classier than other crimes

(Newser) - Sure, it was a tragic loss when a thief made off with a priceless haul of Picasso, Matisse, and Braque paintings yesterday. But it was also a pretty great story, Paul Farhi writes in the Washington Post . Big art heists "aren't like ordinary crimes, which are dreary and depressing,...

Thieves Grab 30 Paintings in France

Picasso, Rousseau works vanish after Degas is stolen

(Newser) - Brazen thieves grabbed $1.5 million worth of paintings by Picasso, Rousseau and other artists from a home in southern France while the owner was vacationing in Sweden. Discovery of the theft in the medieval town of La Cadière d'Azur occurred less than a week after a $1.6...

18 Stories