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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Choose a pin to see the story and artwork.
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
211–231 of 764 reports
Compensation agreement keeps Kirchner’s chess scene at Brücke-Museum — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Berlin, Germany
Compensation agreement keeps Kirchner’s chess scene at Brücke-Museum
Victor Wallerstein’s heirs and Berlin reached a fair-and-just settlement concerning Erich Heckel and Otto Mueller Playing Chess. Compensation allowed the painting to remain at the Brücke-Museum, recognising a persecution-related forced sale.
Paris, France
Paris appeal court upholds dismissal of Daniel Druet’s Cattelan authorship claims
Druet claimed sole authorship of eight sculptures that he fabricated for Maurizio Cattelan between 1999 and 2006. The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the finding that Druet’s claims were inadmissible. Photo shows La Nona Ora at Kunsthalle Basel in 1999, Attilio Maranzano via Perrotin.
New York, United States
Christie’s faces class-action complaint after customer data breach
Clients filed a proposed class action in federal court in New York after Christie’s disclosed that some personal data had been exposed in a cyberattack. The complaint sought relief over the protection and handling of customer data. Christie’s said financial and transaction information was not among the data accessed. The court approved a settlement in July 2025. File photograph: Christie’s New York, The Art Newspaper.
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Rotterdam restitution opinion covers Liebermann’s Girl Writing at a Table
The Dutch committee advised Rotterdam to return Max Liebermann’s drawing held by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Image: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Houston, United States
Appeals court allows Houston museum to keep disputed Bellotto painting
A federal appeals court ruled for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in a suit by Max Emden’s heirs over a Bernardo Bellotto painting. The claim stemmed from a postwar restitution in which the wrong version of a painting was sent to a claimant.
Henri Matisse, Odalisque (1920–21), A795 · Stedelijk Museum / Wikimedia Commons · PDM 1.0 Image source ↗
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam agrees to return Matisse’s Odalisque to the Stern heirs
Amsterdam agreed to return Matisse’s Odalisque, A795, to the Stern heirs after a binding opinion found that the 1941 sale to the Stedelijk took place under persecution.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Mogrobi collection · Twelve works · Frankfurt and Lübeck. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for twelve works from the Mogrobi collection
The Dutch committee recommended returning twelve works to the heirs of Mozes Mogrobi and Zilia Mogrobi-Jacobi. Researchers traced wartime sales to museums in Frankfurt and Lübeck.
Golden Boy, formerly catalogued as Standing Shiva (?), accession 1988.355a–c. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image source ↗
Bangkok, Thailand
Golden Boy and Kneeling Woman returned to Thailand
The bronze sculptures Golden Boy and Kneeling Woman arrived in Thailand on 20 May 2024 and were formally handed over in Bangkok the following day. The Metropolitan Museum of Art returned them after determining that they had been illegally exported. At publication they were displayed at Bangkok National Museum.
Madrid, Spain
Spanish police recover Francis Bacon painting
The painting was one of five Bacon works stolen from a Madrid home in 2015.
Valencia and Catalonia, Spain
Spanish police seize 22 suspected counterfeit paintings offered for sale
A joint police operation seized 22 works offered online or at auction and attributed to Dalí, Saura, Miró and Benlliure. Police identified them as counterfeit.
Eastbourne and Chatsworth, United Kingdom
Stolen Quellinus double portrait returns to Chatsworth after 45 years
Erasmus Quellinus II’s double portrait of Rubens and Van Dyck was taken from a 1979 exhibition at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne. An art historian spotted it at a Toulon auction in 2021. Chatsworth recovered and conserved the painting, which was back on display by May 2024. Photo: Chatsworth House Trust.
New York, United States
Picasso seller’s claims against Sotheby’s partly survive a dismissal motion
Maria Iride Crippa consigned a Picasso painting for private sale through Sotheby’s. The prospective buyer, August Uribe Fine Art, did not pay the full contract price. A New York judge dismissed some of the seller’s claims against Sotheby’s but allowed others to proceed. File photograph: Sotheby’s former York Avenue location, Jim Henderson/Wikimedia Commons.
Strasbourg, France
European court upholds Italy’s confiscation order for Victorious Youth
The European Court of Human Rights found no violation of the Getty Trust’s property rights in the Italian confiscation proceedings concerning the ancient bronze.
Oxford, United Kingdom
Salvator Rosa painting returned to Oxford gallery
The Baroque landscape was handed to authorities in Romania and returned to Christ Church Picture Gallery.
Paris, France
Restored paintings rescued from the Notre-Dame fire set for a Paris exhibition
Paintings rescued from the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame were restored and scheduled to go on display in Paris. The exhibition was planned before the works’ return to the cathedral.
The original Harawene statue with fundraising organiser Fiona Cairns before its theft. Photo: Kelvin Teixeira / Rotorua Daily Post. Image source ↗
Rotorua, New Zealand
Private reward offered after Harawene dog sculpture theft
The bronze memorial to Harawene, a stray dog cherished by Rotorua residents, was stolen from Te Ngae Road over Easter 2024. 1News reported that a plaque and two paws remained. A private reward was subsequently advertised in April; its current validity is unconfirmed.
New York, United States
Christie’s withdraws four Greek vessels after provenance questions
Christie’s removed four ancient Greek vessels from a New York auction after archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis raised questions about their ownership histories. He identified apparent matches in archives associated with antiquities dealers. The withdrawn lots included an Attic cup and a lekythos. Image: a Christie’s catalogue photograph associated with the sale.
Woodcut carving process; contextual photograph, not an authenticated example of a counterfeit in this case. Image source ↗
Pennsylvania, United States; Europe
Earl Marshawn Washington sentenced in counterfeit woodcut scheme
Federal prosecutors announced Washington’s sentence for a conspiracy involving counterfeit woodblocks and woodcut prints. He had pleaded guilty in July 2023; the case involved cooperation with French and German authorities.
Henry the bronze stag, stolen from Alison Cork’s front garden. Nigel Howard Media / The Independent. Image source ↗
Knightsbridge, London, United Kingdom
Henry the bronze stag stolen from Alison Cork’s London home
Alison Cork reported the theft of her bronze stag Henry from her front garden and offered £1,000 for its return. Police confirmed an investigation and no arrests at publication. The offer’s current validity has not been confirmed.
Context photograph · Bavarian National Museum, where the two statuettes were held · Raupach / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5 · resized / redimensionnée Image source ↗
Bavaria, Germany
Bavaria returns three works from Jakob Goldschmidt’s collection
Two Bavarian institutions returned a portrait by Hans Wertinger and two wooden figures of Adam and Eve to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt.
Spain
Spanish police investigate sale of fake Banksy works
Reuters reported that the works were presented as part of Banksy’s Dismaland project. The report concerns a police investigation.
ArtTraceX Weekly Brief
The week’s key developments in art theft, forgery, recovery, restitution and the courts. Every Monday.
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