French police have detained six people in connection with the theft of paintings from the Pierre-Auguste Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Investigators believe two of the suspects broke into the museum and took the works themselves.
The suspects were arrested on October 7 across the Alpes-Maritimes, Hérault and Jura departments as part of the investigation into the Renoir Museum theft. The break-in itself took place on September 8, when two people entered the museum and made off with four paintings.
Two of the stolen works, “Portrait of Madame Stéphane Pichon” and “Coco Reading”, were later recovered in the museum’s garden, apparently dropped by the thieves as they fled. The other two paintings, “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman by a Well”, remain missing.
Investigators have put the combined value of the stolen paintings at an estimated €9 million.
French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a leading figure of the Impressionist movement and took part in the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874. He bought the Domaine des Collettes estate in 1907 and lived there with his family from the autumn of 1908 until his death.
The Renoir Museum today displays his paintings and sculptures alongside his studio, furniture, easel and personal belongings.
