Overview
- Two masked suspects broke into the Renoir Museum just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, cut through a garden fence and used an electric saw or knife to sever four paintings from their mounts after the alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m., with police arriving five minutes later.
- Police and town cameras show the pair fled on foot through the gardens and abandoned two works that were recovered on site as officers gave chase.
- The two paintings still missing are Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well, and local officials have estimated the combined value of the four targeted works at about €9 million.
- Marseille prosecutors opened a probe into theft by an organised gang and the French national office for traffic in cultural goods has joined the investigation while police have launched a national manhunt for the suspects.
- The raid highlights a broader rise in fast, well‑equipped thefts from regional cultural sites in Europe and has renewed pressure to fund and speed the rollout of the Culture Ministry’s 33‑point security measures for smaller museums.