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Two thieves have broken into a museum dedicated to the French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in southern France, stealing four artworks and dropping one as they fled.
“This morning, two individuals broke into the Renoir Museum and stole four works of art,” said Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer.
“Spotted thanks to the town’s video surveillance cameras, the two individuals fled, abandoning one of the stolen paintings as they ran,” said Masson, who belongs to the National Rally, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, and was elected mayor in March. He added that his office estimated the value of the stolen works at €9m (£7.7m).
The museum was opened in 1960 in the painter’s last home before his death in 1919. Its collection includes objects and furniture that belonged to Renoir, including his easel and wheelchair, as well as portraits, landscapes and nudes painted by the artist.
The mayor said it took five minutes for the authorities to respond. “The museum alarm went off at 5.48am. At 5.53am, just five minutes later, our municipal police were on the scene,” he said.
French media reported that the thieves may have broken into the museum by breaking a window. The police organised crime squad was handling the case.
The theft comes less than a year after eight items valued at about €88m were stolen during a daylight robbery from the Louvre in Paris. The four suspected Louvre robbers have been arrested, but the stolen items have not been found despite extensive searches by French investigators in the Paris region, and exchanges with police in Belgium, Italy and beyond.
Art thieves in Europe are committing more violent robberies and specialist gangs have been replaced by ad-hoc opportunists recruited through social media, Europol said last month.
