01 HISTORICAL DOSSIERS
Still Missing
The artworks still sought. The families still searching.
Explore the cases
Global Archive of Art Theft, Forgery & Restitution
Explore documented cases of stolen art, art forgery, recovery and restitution worldwide, along with related court disputes. Every report links to its source.
Six countries · a global watch
Live clocksArt crime across time zones
Clocks show the time now. Below each clock: the latest documented case in that country from our archive.
Red mark: source-reported theft time. An arc shows a reported time window on the outer 24-hour scale. Only shown where timing is documented.
“Published” is the report date, not the theft date. Cases may cover thefts, recoveries or returns. Click a clock for the case details and source.
Why these six countries? · Data published in 2023
These are the six leading countries in an INTERPOL register snapshot published by a Cornell Data Journal team on 16 December 2023. Counts refer to objects registered as stolen, not theft incidents. This historical snapshot is not a current, comprehensive worldwide ranking.
- France8,133 objects
- Italy7,721 objects
- Turkey3,034 objects
- Iraq2,786 objects
- Belgium2,336 objects
- Netherlands1,756 objects
Published analysis ↗Underlying data table ↗About the INTERPOL register ↗
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All countriesThefts around the world
Art Theft Map
Explore reported theft locations in the archive. Pins are approximate; dates refer to source reports. A historical theft report does not mean the artwork is still missing.
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Drag to pan; use + / − to zoom. This map shows reports in this archive, not all art thefts worldwide.
Browse the reports on this map (128)
- ArgentinaBronze elements stolen from Güemes monument
- AustraliaStolen Ermenegildo Zegna trophy remains missing despite reward
- AustraliaSparkly Bear sculpture stolen with a truck and crane in Brunswick
- AustraliaSir Joseph Banks memorial sculpture stolen from Canberra gardens
- AustriaPolice investigate disappearance of more than 200 Mozart figures in Salzburg
- AustriaErnst Fuchs Museum increases reward for stolen painting
- AustriaErnst Fuchs’s Daphne bronze missing from Vienna exhibition
- AustriaPierre-Auguste Renoir painting stolen from Vienna’s Dorotheum auction house
- BelgiumRenaissance Madonna stolen from a church in Zele
- BelgiumEnsor, Van Dongen and other works stolen from Van Buuren Museum
- BrazilMatisse and Portinari works stolen from library
- BrazilDalí, Matisse, Monet and Picasso works stolen from Rio museum
- CanadaTimothy Schmalz’s bronze figure of Jesus stolen from Surrey school
- CanadaBronze sculpture valued at about C$175,000 stolen in central Waterloo
- CanadaSecwépemc landmark sculpture stolen from Tappen Bluffs
- CanadaThree Maud Lewis painted Christmas cards reported stolen in Halifax
- CanadaBronze statue of St. Teresa of Avila stolen from Ancaster cemetery
- CanadaRichard Forbes bronze horse head stolen from Vancouver gallery
- CanadaJellyfish sculpture stolen from Calgary’s Beakerhead festival
- CanadaJohn Greer’s bronze Feather stolen from Guelph sculpture park
- CanadaSuzor-Coté oil painting stolen from Halifax gallery
- CanadaGolden egg stolen from Salvador Dalí’s Space Venus
- CanadaA.Y. Jackson landscape stolen from Toronto home
- CanadaBanksy’s Trolley Hunters stolen from Toronto exhibition
- CyprusFilippos Giapanis’s Balance stolen from Cyprus sculpture park
- CyprusBronze sparrow stolen again from Yiota Ioannidou’s Paphos sculpture
- EgyptVan Gogh’s Poppy Flowers stolen in Egypt
- FranceSalvador Dalí bronze book cover stolen
- FranceLouvre jewels added to INTERPOL stolen art database
- FranceThe theft of five masterpieces from the Musée d’Art moderne de Paris
- FranceFernando Botero's Maternity stolen from a Paris gallery
- FranceChinese and Thai artworks stolen from Fontainebleau palace
- FranceA red Picasso sketchbook disappears from the Paris museum
- FrancePicasso paintings stolen from granddaughter’s home
- GermanyLife-size bronze of a seated woman stolen from an Essen cemetery
- GermanyWooden wild boar sculpture stolen from Werl playground
- GermanyHans Arp bronze reported stolen at Art Cologne
- GermanyPolice seek Ernst Sauer’s stolen bronze Der Liegende
- GermanyLife-size bronze woman stolen from a Duisburg family grave
- GermanyPolice seek untitled Elfi Frauendorf work stolen in Berlin
- GermanyPainting of golfers stolen in Berlin burglary
- GermanyIris Ulbricht’s Murmel stolen from Berlin exhibition
- GermanyBronze Pine figure reported stolen in Pirna
- GermanyOil painting stolen from an office in Berlin-Steglitz
- GermanyTwo de Belsunce portraits stolen in Berlin
- GermanyBronze angel sculpture stolen from Rostock cemetery
- GermanyLunita July Dorn painting stolen during Berlin opening
- GermanyRuthild Hahne bronze head stolen in Berlin
- GermanySeven Jean-Noel Schramm watercolours stolen from Berlin hospital
- GermanyNine Itamar Zion Yehiel embroideries stolen in Berlin
- GermanyOil painting of a monk with a jug stolen in Berlin
- GermanyHeinrich Martens bronze girl stolen from Monheim civic centre
- GermanyNeureuther’s 1827 view of Munich stolen from storage
- GermanyCharles Fazzino porcelain apple stolen from a Hamburg gallery
- GermanyErik van Lieshout and Andy Hope 1930 paintings stolen in Berlin
- GermanyBalthasar Lobo’s Mutter mit Kind stolen in Berlin foundry burglary
- GermanyRoland Lindner bronze heron stolen from a Berlin-Frohnau garden
- GermanyTwo Dave the Chimp drawings stolen from Berlin exhibition
- GermanyFrau am Fluss bronze stolen from Duisburg’s Goerdeler Park
- GermanySix sculptures stolen from Bochum’s Stadtpark
- GermanyReinhold Böltzig’s Reifenwerferin stolen from former embassy grounds
- GermanyElena Panknin bronze sculpture stolen during Berlin exhibition opening
- GermanyHeavy bronze seal sculpture stolen from Wilhelmshaven storage yard
- GermanyRichie Culver’s Contemplation stolen from a Berlin auction house
- GermanyLore Plietzsch’s flute-playing children bronze stolen in Berlin
- GermanyPaul van Hoeydonck’s Man in Space stolen from Berlin gallery
- GermanyWilliam N. Copley work stolen from Berlin-Mitte gallery
- GermanyTwo Bruno Bielefeld paintings sought after Berlin residential theft
- GermanyGhada Amer ceramic sculpture taken from a Berlin gallery
- GermanyPolice seek witnesses after Dresden’s Green Vault jewel theft
- GermanyReward campaign seeks Lucian Freud’s stolen Francis Bacon portrait
- Israel27 artworks stolen from the Wilfrid Israel Museum
- IsraelRodin bronze stolen from the Israel Museum
- ItalyFour Renaissance artworks stolen from museum in Messina
- ItalyRenoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings stolen from private museum
- ItalyThieves take a decoy after police safeguard a Brueghel Crucifixion
- JapanTwo bronze statues stolen from a Tokyo public park
- NetherlandsTwo Andy Warhol prints stolen from gallery
- NetherlandsFrans Hals’s Two Laughing Boys stolen again
- NetherlandsVan Gogh painting stolen from Singer Laren
- NetherlandsSeven works stolen from Kunsthal Rotterdam
- New ZealandKarin de Beer's Tiori Toru stolen from Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre
- New ZealandPrivate reward offered after Harawene dog sculpture theft
- New ZealandTwo Gottfried Lindauer portraits stolen in Auckland gallery ram raid
- South AfricaReward advertised for paintings stolen in Pretoria hijacking
- SwedenDalí sculptures and etchings stolen in Stockholm gallery raid
- SwedenRoyal funeral crowns and orb stolen from Strängnäs Cathedral
- SwitzerlandUp to €1 million advertised for paintings stolen in Valais
- SwitzerlandInsurers consider reward for stolen Lausanne-Vidy museum coins
- United KingdomLipton Cup still missing; arrested man released without charge
- United KingdomCourt summons issued after hedgehog statue theft
- United KingdomClare Haggas’s Making Amends stolen at Cheltenham Festival
- United KingdomBronze deer stolen from outside a Lyndhurst property
- United KingdomTeddy Baldock bronze statue stolen from Langdon Park
- United KingdomMore than 600 objects stolen from Bristol Museums storage
- United KingdomNelson Mandela print stolen from Liverpool’s St George’s Hall
- United KingdomBronze Dalmatian sculpture stolen in Sudbury
- United KingdomAnne Curry bronze sculpture stolen from her garden
- United KingdomDorset Police seek paintings stolen from Lyme Regis art studio
- United KingdomHenry the bronze stag stolen from Alison Cork’s London home
- United KingdomLeaping-woman statue stolen from The Grove Hotel grounds
- United KingdomJapanese bronze hawk incense burner stolen from Alton auction house
- United KingdomSarah Księska’s Präparat stolen during London Frieze week
- United KingdomGrayson Perry’s Alien Baby stolen from Bristol’s Hidden Gallery
- United KingdomTwenty lead statues stolen from a Moreton-in-Marsh estate
- United KingdomBronze lion stolen from Born Free outdoor exhibition in Bristol
- United KingdomChrist Church theft: Van Dyck, Carracci and Rosa
- United KingdomTwo Polly Rome bronze sculptures stolen from a Rockbourne home
- United KingdomMaurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace
- United KingdomBronze hare statues stolen from a Goodworth Clatford garden
- United KingdomHenry Moore bronze stolen from Glenkiln Sculpture Park
- United KingdomReward advertised after Barbara Hepworth sculpture theft
- United KingdomOver 100 gold boxes and precious objects stolen from Waddesdon Manor
- United StatesPortland police seek stolen miniature horse figurines after arrest
- United StatesKwan Wu’s bronze figure of an Osage woman stolen in Kansas City
- United StatesJeffrey Laudenslager offers reward after kinetic sculpture theft
- United StatesSix paintings stolen in Dallas during transport
- United StatesSalvador Dalí etching stolen from San Francisco gallery
- United StatesThree Kieron Williamson paintings stolen in Arizona
- United StatesVivienne Scholl photograph stolen from Madrone Art Bar
- United StatesChez Tortoni and the works stolen from the Gardner Museum
- United StatesAnn Pibal’s CBLT taken from New York’s Team Gallery
- United StatesGinny: reward advertised for sculpture stolen in 1980
- United StatesSam Tufnell’s Electric Blueberry gnome stolen from Florida museum
- United StatesSeven Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup I prints stolen from Springfield Art Museum
- United StatesReward doubled for Mother and Child sculpture stolen in Eau Claire
- United StatesFBI appeals for Renoir stolen in Houston armed robbery
- United StatesEleven Warhol portraits stolen from a Los Angeles home
The stories behind the art
Explore all stories Stolen. Sought. Found.
2004Oslo, Norway · Recovered in 2006
Daylight, guns and another Scream
This time there was no ladder and no taunting postcard. Armed men entered an open museum while visitors were inside.
Read the story 3 min
2005Perry Green, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom · Missing; police believed it destroyed
Two tonnes vanished. The metal was the danger.
The bronze seemed too heavy to steal. A crane made its weight manageable, and its artistic value may not have mattered to the thieves.
Read the story 3 min
2000Stockholm, Sweden → Copenhagen, Denmark · Recovered and returned
A speedboat, a hotel room and a very small Rembrandt
An armed robbery emptied three spaces in Stockholm. The return took years, several countries and an undercover operation.
Read the story 3 min
HISTORICAL EDITION · 1933–1945
Art, loss & memory
02 HISTORICAL DOSSIERS
Looting & Restitution
Dispossession, long battles and the paths to restitution.
Explore the casesThe upper strip shows details of the featured artworks; the lower strip uses World War II archive photographs as historical context.
Art Wanted · Rewards
87 entries · 88 documented offers · terms apply
Newest additions first · up to ten entries in each group.
Officially advertised offers 59
Official sources checked; terms apply.
Jan Brueghel the Elder · A Garland of Flowers Surrounding a Picture of FloraUp to$15,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Jan Brueghel the Elder · Still Life with FlowersUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Canaletto · The Riva degli Schiavoni in VeniceUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Caravaggio · Portrait of a Young Woman (Fillide Melandroni)Up to$20,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Annibale Carracci · Self-PortraitUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Cima da Conegliano · Virgin and ChildUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Lovis Corinth · Tyrolean with CatUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Gustave Courbet · The WaveUp to$15,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Lucas Cranach the Elder · Saint GeorgeUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Aelbert Cuyp · Spring Landscape with PoolUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
10 of 59 entries · see the full list for the rest.
Published offers · current validity unconfirmed 18
Amounts reported by the cited sources, without confirmation that the offers remain valid.
Heinrich Martens’s bronze girl with a ballUp to€5,000Validity unconfirmed
LeRoy Neiman — Oscar de la Hoya – Shane MosleyAdvertised reward$5,000Centaur Art GalleriesValidity unconfirmed
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts — 1972 theftAdvertised rewardAmount not publishedInsurers, according to Radio Canada InternationalValidity unconfirmed
Giapanis · BalanceAdvertised reward€5,000Validity unconfirmed
Zegna · Gold sheep trophyAdvertised rewardA$15,000Validity unconfirmed
Valais · Chalet theftUp to€1,000,000Validity unconfirmed
Lausanne · Gold coinsUp to€200,000Validity unconfirmed
Ernst Fuchs · ViennaAdvertised reward€30,000Validity unconfirmed
Harawene · RotoruaAdvertised rewardNZ$5,000Validity unconfirmed
Henry · LondonAdvertised reward£1,000Validity unconfirmed
10 of 18 entries · see the full list for the rest.
Archive · recovered works or documented outcomes 10
Historical reward offers; reported returns, recoveries or destruction.
Llew Summers · FlightAdvertised rewardNZ$4,000Archive · see outcome
Amelia Earhart · ReturnedAdvertised rewardCA$25,000Archive · see outcome
Titian · RecoveredAdvertised reward£100,000Archive · see outcome
Picasso · RecoveredAdvertised rewardA$50,000Archive · see outcome
Unkrey · The HammerAdvertised reward$1,000Archive · see outcome
Van Gogh · Two paintingsAdvertised reward€100,000Archive · see outcome
Bührle · RecoveredAdvertised rewardCHF 100,000Archive · see outcome
Goya · Children with a CartUp to$50,000Archive · see outcome
Munch · Two paintingsUp toNOK 2,000,000Archive · see outcome
Cellini · SalieraAdvertised reward€70,000Archive · see outcome
ArtistsAll artists125
85–105 of 109 reports
UK and Japan
Restitution dispute over Joshua Reynolds portrait in Japan
Heirs sought restitution of Portrait of Miss Mathew, later Lady Elizabeth Mathew from Japan’s Fuji Art Museum. The museum asserted valid title through good-faith purchase. This records an ownership and restitution dispute, not a verified court judgment.
New York, United States
New York appeals court rules for Grünbaum heirs over two Schiele works
In Reif v Nagy the appellate court upheld the core ownership ruling for the heirs concerning Woman in a Black Pinafore and Woman Hiding Her Face. Image of Woman in a Black Pinafore: Collection Grünbaum, via Smithsonian Magazine.
Quartzite head of Amun with Tutankhamun’s features — Christie’s, via The Art Newspaper. Image source ↗
London, United Kingdom / Egypt
Egypt announces legal action over Tutankhamun-head sale
After Christie’s sold a quartzite head of Amun bearing Tutankhamun’s features on 4 July 2019, Egypt said it had contacted INTERPOL and retained a British law firm to file suit. The 9 July report records a contested ownership claim and announced legal action, not a judgment or a proven theft. Christie’s denied wrongdoing and defended its provenance and ownership checks.
Context image: Frederick Goodall, Goatherd and Labourer near the Pyramids at Giza — not the stolen 1892 painting.
Dublin and Cork, Ireland
Appeal dismissed in stolen Frederick Goodall painting case
On 31 May 2019, the Court of Appeal dismissed Andrew Shannon’s challenge to his conviction for handling an 1892 Frederick Goodall desert painting, stolen from Bantry House in 2006 and found in his home in 2014. He had received a two-year sentence in November 2018. The image shows Goatherd and Labourer near the Pyramids at Giza: a contextual work by the same artist, not the stolen canvas.
Pierre Louis Goudreaux, An Amorous Couple / A Loving Glance — the recovered painting.
New York, United States / Kyiv, Ukraine
Civil forfeiture action seeks return of Goudreaux painting looted from Ukraine
On 21 March 2019, Manhattan federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action for Pierre Louis Goudreaux’s An Amorous Couple, also called A Loving Glance and formerly A Family Portrait. The complaint alleged that it was looted from Kyiv’s Khanenko Museum around 1943 and resurfaced in a New York auction listing in 2013. This records the filing stage; the 2020 handover is documented separately.
Pasadena, United States
Appeals court rejects restitution claim for Cranach panels
The Ninth Circuit upheld dismissal of Marei von Saher’s claim against the Norton Simon Museum over Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Adam and Eve panels. Installation photo of the two panels: Norton Simon Museum.
Marc Chagall, Othello and Desdemona (1911). FBI. Image source ↗
Washington and New York, United States
US files forfeiture action to return stolen Marc Chagall painting
The US filed a civil forfeiture complaint concerning Othello and Desdemona (1911), recovered after its 1988 theft. The action sought its return to the Heller estate. This report records a filing, not a completed restitution.
New York, United States
New York court dismisses Agnes Martin authentication suit
A state court dismissed the Mayor Gallery’s lawsuit against the committee behind Agnes Martin’s catalogue raisonné. The London gallery had challenged the refusal to include 13 works it had previously sold as Martin’s. The photo shows an installation of Agnes Martin’s work at MoMA.
New York, United States
Confidential settlement in auction dispute involving Richter and Bacon
Lawsuits concerning buyer Zhang Chang’s unpaid purchase of Gerhard Richter’s Düsenjäger at Phillips and a claim to a Francis Bacon painting used in related financing were settled confidentially. The image shows the Richter painting.
Melbourne, Australia
Appeals court quashes Brett Whiteley art fraud convictions
Victoria’s Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of two men in a case over paintings attributed to Brett Whiteley and entered acquittals. Image of one of the disputed paintings, via ABC News.
Paris, France
Paris art heist: sentences and disputed destruction claim
AP reported that on 20 February 2017 Vjeran Tomic received eight years in prison, Jean-Michel Corvez seven and Yonathan Birn six. The men were jointly ordered to pay €104 million for the loss. Birn said he discarded the canvases for fear of detection. His co-defendants doubted the claim, and destruction was not established. Tomic was arrested in 2011. A November 2026 review did not verify recovery.
Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, Manhattan. GSA photograph used for institutional context; not an artwork or evidence from this case. Image source ↗
New York, United States
Leon Zinder charged over sale of stolen African and Native American art
Federal prosecutors charged Leon Zinder with selling 13 African and Native American artworks stolen from a private collection. Authorities said most had been recovered. These were allegations at publication, not a conviction.
St Petersburg, Russia
St Petersburg court acquits art historian in Boris Grigoriev forgery case
A court acquitted Elena Basner of fraud in a case over a purported version of Boris Grigoriev’s In the Restaurant. The court found that she had made an error in assessing the painting and ruled that she had not committed a premeditated crime.
Canon table by T’oros Roslin. Getty Museum via Google Arts & Culture. Public domain. Image source ↗
Los Angeles, United States
Getty and Armenian Church settle dispute over eight illuminated pages
The Getty acknowledged the Armenian Apostolic Church’s ownership of eight leaves from the Zeyt’un Gospels. Under the agreement, the Church agreed to donate the leaves to the museum.
Jasper Johns and James Meyer in the studio. Photograph: Hans Namuth, via the cited source. Image source ↗
New York and Connecticut, United States
Jasper Johns’s former assistant sentenced for selling stolen works
James Meyer was sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling 37 works stolen from Jasper Johns’s Connecticut studio. Prosecutors described fabricated documentation used to reassure buyers about the works’ provenance.
London, United Kingdom
High Court rules on Christie’s sale of disputed Odalisque
In Avrora Fine Arts v Christie’s the court held that the painting offered as a work by Boris Kustodiev was not authentic under the auction warranty. Image from the 2005 Christie’s catalogue, which recorded the attribution disputed in court.
Boston, United States
Boston museum reaches settlement over Eglon van der Neer portrait
The museum reached a financial settlement with Walter Westfeld’s estate and heirs. The agreement allowed Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior to remain in Boston.
Boston, United States
Appeals court affirms Boston museum’s ownership of Kokoschka painting
The First Circuit affirmed that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston owns Two Nudes (Lovers) and that the competing claim was time-barred.
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally Neuzil. Leopold Museum collection image. Image source ↗
New York, United States; Vienna, Austria
$19 million settlement resolves Portrait of Wally dispute
A settlement provided $19 million to Lea Bondi Jaray’s estate in the dispute over Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally. The painting would remain with the Leopold Museum, with acknowledgment of its looted history. The agreement did not return the painting to the heirs.
Picasso, Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, stolen from MASP; Arte Que Acontece Image source ↗
São Paulo, Brazil
Four convicted in MASP Picasso and Portinari theft
The paintings were stolen in December 2007 and recovered in January 2008. The prison sentences remained subject to appeal.
New York, United States
Court denies museums’ summary judgment motion in Picasso title dispute
The federal court explained why it allowed Julius Schoeps’s ownership dispute over two Picasso paintings, including Boy Leading a Horse, to proceed at that stage. Image of Boy Leading a Horse: Museum of Modern Art.
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