The Maeght foundation targeted after the heist of the Renoir museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, according to investigators

The two men who stole two Renoir paintings from a museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes) in September committed “an opportunistic theft” and were planning to do it again, the police revealed on Monday.

The two paintings, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Woman at the Well, were discovered in a "false wall" made of "solid concrete blocks and placo" in a house in Clermont-l'Hérault (Hérault) on October 8, just one month after the theft, explained the Marseille prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, during a press conference in Paris. They are “in rather good condition”, he detailed, a few hours before the presentation of the works to the press at the Interdisciplinary Center for Conservation and Restoration of Heritage (CICRP) in Marseille.

Skip the ad

“The preferred hypothesis is that there was no sponsor, a priori, of the theft,” added Eric Antonetti, director of the Interdepartmental Judicial Police Service (SIPJ) of the Alpes-Maritimes, during the press conference. “The first idea (...) rather suggests that we have an opportunistic theft of goods which have a very high value since the two Renoirs are estimated at more than 4 million euros (...) and that the paintings did not go immediately to receivers” but were “hidden” in a house, argued the prosecutor.

“An art dealer with a sulphurous reputation”

On September 8, around 5:50 a.m., two men broke into the Renoir museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, after cutting a fence and breaking a window. In the space of two minutes, they removed the four paintings with the help of a saber saw. The alarm then went off and the two thieves fled through the back of the museum, leaving two works in their flight, in a cover. “This cover will allow us to make significant progress in the investigations, we will find DNA from a 29-year-old man, living in the Var, unfavorably known to the police,” explained the prosecutor. Investigations then made it possible to identify a second man, aged 41, “living in Corsica and who is also unfavorably known to the police”, he added. After the theft, the two men went to the home of a third man in Clermont-L'Hérault (Hérault), who turned out to have hidden the paintings at his home.

“There was a moment of operational change” when police officers in Nice covered up on October 3 “a meeting between the main suspect and an art dealer with a sulphurous reputation since he had a past as a receiver and forger,” continued Eric Antonetti. We were thinking about waiting for the right moment with the aim of recovering the works of art and not just calling out the authors. Despite everything, the arrests will be precipitated by the very strong presumption of a new passage. »

Criminal record

Indeed, on October 3, the 29-year-old man and main suspect went to the Maeght foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (Alpes-Maritimes). “We were very clearly in the reiteration of a criminal project,” said Eric Antonetti.

On October 7, six people, five men and one woman, were arrested. And on October 8, the two paintings were found hidden behind a “totally undetectable” wall, on the instructions given by the third man during his interrogation. The two men suspected of having committed the theft were indicted in particular for theft by an organized gang and receiving property from a theft by an organized gang. They were placed in pre-trial detention. Among the four indicted, three have already been convicted of drug trafficking, possession of counterfeit currency, aggravated theft and receipts, according to the prosecutor.

Skip the ad

The Cagnes-sur-Mer burglary has relaunched the debate on the security of French museums, including that of the Louvre, scene of the resounding heist of the Crown Jewels on October 19, 2025. Estimated at 88 million euros, they are still nowhere to be found.