Story perspectives

Police Recover Two €9M Renoir Paintings After Break-In

By Drooid · Sep 12, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Police recovered two Renoir paintings after a theft at Musée Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Thieves cut the museum fence with an electric saw and entered through a ground-floor window.
The stolen works, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well, were valued at €9 million.
Europol’s August 24 report noted a shift to violent smash-and-grab methods using sledgehammers and explosives.

History

Historical Context

On March 18 1990, thieves posing as police entered Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, used tools to cut frames, and stole 13 artworks later valued at about $500 million. The FBI’s investigation spurred global museum security overhauls, influencing institutions such as the Louvre. Today’s violent smash-and-grab at Paris’s Musée Renoir, executed with an electric saw, echoes that notorious 1990 heist.

1 of 2

Story summary

Police recovered two Renoir paintings after a theft at Musée Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Thieves cut the museum fence with an electric saw and entered through a ground-floor window.
The stolen works, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well, were valued at €9 million.
Europol’s August 24 report noted a shift to violent smash-and-grab methods using sledgehammers and explosives.

1 / 2