Armed, masked thieves staged a brazen daylight robbery in southern France on Sunday, making off with paintings by artists Claude Monet, Pieter Bruegel and Alfred Sisley.
According to police, four or five armed, masked men burst into the Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Cheret in Nice on Sunday afternoon and threatened staff members before snatching the four paintings.
The robbers then bagged the stolen canvases before escaping via a motorcycle and car. A handful of visitors to the museum, which was open to the public with free admission at the time, were inside the 19th-century building.
The four paintings taken were:
- Monet's Falaises près de Dieppe (Cliffs near Dieppe)
- Sisley's Allée de peupliers de Moret (The Lane of Poplars at Moret)
- Breugel's Allégorie de l'eau (Allegory of Water) and Allégorie de la terre (Allegory of Earth).
Monique Bailet, the museum's assistant curator, reported that another staff member had noticed the thieves attempting to remove a fifth work but were unsuccessful.
Nine years ago, two of the works — the Monet and the Sisley — had also been stolen, but were recovered in less than a week. The museum's curator at the time was eventually convicted and jailed in conjunction with the theft.
Police believe the four paintings were stolen to order because they are too well-known to be sold on the open market. Authorities estimated the combined value of the four works at one million euros (about $1.45 million).
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