Thieves Broke Into a French Museum and Made Off With Renoir Paintings Worth More Than $2.5 Million

In France’s latest art heist, two thieves broke into Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s house and stole four of his paintings. The burglars entered Cagnes-sur-Mer’s Renoir Museum, housed in the estate where the famed Impressionist spent the last decade of his life, before sunrise this morning. According to a statement from Cagnes-sur-Mer, a French Riviera town just west of Nice, the burglars abandoned the first two paintings in the museum’s gardens while running from authorities.

The latter pair remain at large. The missing art was on loan to the Renoir Museum and belongs to the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris. Caroline d’Amat, Cagnes-sur-Mer’s deputy mayor, tells CNN’s Jack Guy and Saskya Vandoorne that Madame Colonna Romano is worth more than $2.3 million, while Young Woman is worth about $230,000.

Before the two abandoned paintings were recovered, the mayor’s office had valued the thieves’ haul at some $10 million, reports . Authorities attribute the robbers’ bungle to the museum’s security system and the quick response of local police. Known for soft-focus portraits of women and girls, like Coco Reading and A Girl With a Watering Can (1876), the artist left Paris for the warmer climate of southern France at the advice of doctors treating his rheumatoid arthritis.

In 1907, he and his wife, Aline, purchased and developed a hilltop estate in Cagnes-sur-Mer dotted with olive, orange and fig trees. Though his mobility was restricted, Renoir painted there until his death, in 1919. In 1960, Renoir’s son Claude sold the estate to the village of Cagnes, which turned it into a museum.

Today, the museum displays original furniture and objects that belonged to the Impressionist, including his easel and wheelchair. Its collection comprises photographs and letters, 13 original paintings, and about 40 sculptures. The Renoir Museum burglary joins a growing roster of recent art thefts in Europe.

In last year’s infamous Louvre heist, scootering criminals fled with French crown jewels. This spring, thieves stole $10 million worth of paintings by Renoir, Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne from an Italian museum. And earlier this summer, jewelry and artwork valued at $5 million was taken from France’s Lalique Museum.