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
442–462 of 764 reports
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for 107 groups of objects from Franz Oppenheimer’s collection
The Dutch committee advised restitution to Franz Oppenheimer’s heirs. The official report appends an inventory of the object groups covered by the recommendation.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for fourteen Meissen porcelain objects
The Dutch committee recommended returning the fourteen objects claimed by the heirs of Herbert Gutmann.
Paris, France
Allegation concerning an Yves Klein work and a lawyer
An owner alleged her lawyer wrongfully took a work attributed to Yves Klein. Cross-checked with Europe 1. These are allegations reported in 2019. No final judgment was verified here.
America by Maurizio Cattelan, pictured in the AP/ABC7 theft report; earlier display. Image source ↗
Woodstock, United Kingdom
Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace
Maurizio Cattelan’s solid-gold toilet America was stolen from Blenheim Palace early on 14 September 2019, two days after its installation. Police reported damage and flooding caused by its removal. A 66-year-old man had been arrested but not charged; the artwork had not been recovered at the source date.
Context photograph: Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg. FrDr · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
European Union
Cofemel: copyright in clothing designs
G-Star claimed copyright in designs for jeans and other clothing. The EU court held that a design must qualify as an original work and that a specific aesthetic effect cannot by itself establish protection.
Vienna, Austria
Sentence following Renoir theft at Dorotheum
ORF reported a sentence against one of three men in the November 2018 Renoir theft. The judgment was not final at the publication date.
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.
United Kingdom
Shakespeare’s Flower portrait: scientific examination
National Portrait Gallery examinations in 2004–2005 dated the portrait to the nineteenth century. Cross-checked with Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Pima County, Arizona
Three Kieron Williamson paintings stolen in Arizona
A retrospective of 2019 thefts reports that three paintings by Kieron Williamson were stolen from a house in Tucson, Arizona, in July. Recovery was not established in this review.
Timothy Sammons sentenced for defrauding art clients — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
New York, United States; London, United Kingdom
Timothy Sammons sentenced for defrauding art clients
Sammons was sentenced to four to twelve years after pleading guilty to grand larceny and scheming to defraud. The case concerned misuse of clients’ artworks and sale proceeds, rather than an authenticity determination.
29 countries
Pandora III: over 18,000 cultural objects seized
INTERPOL reported seizures including paintings, sculptures, furniture and coins. Some objects originated in Colombia, Egypt, Iraq and Morocco.
Florence, Italy
Jan van Huysum’s Vase of Flowers returned to Italy
The Uffizi confirmed that the painting, taken in 1944, returned to Pitti Palace on 19 July 2019.
Gilbert & George, There Were Two Young Men, 1971 — © Gilbert & George / Primae / David Bordes, Fondation Louis Vuitton. Image source ↗
Turin, Italy / Paris, France
Stolen Gilbert & George work returns to display after decades
Gilbert & George’s six-part charcoal-on-paper work There Were Two Young Men (April 1971) was exhibited in Paris in 2019 after its recovery following theft from Turin’s Sperone gallery. The 18 July 2019 account says its absence was discovered in 1986 and a telephone call in 2006 led to recovery. Fondation Louis Vuitton acquired and displayed the complete work. The six parts form one artwork, not six separate thefts.
The stolen bronze hare statues in the police appeal / Hampshire Police. Image source ↗
Goodworth Clatford, United Kingdom
Bronze hare statues stolen from a Goodworth Clatford garden
Hampshire Police appealed after bronze hare statues were stolen from a front garden in Church Lane, Goodworth Clatford. The theft occurred between the afternoon of 5 July and the morning of 6 July 2019. Police reported a value of £3,000–£4,000 and released a photograph; the appeal announces no recovery.
Jean-Antoine Houdon, Bust of Diana, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw. Photo: Аимаина хикари / Wikimedia Commons · CC0. Image source ↗
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw revisits recovery of Houdon’s marble bust of Diana
A Polish Ministry of Culture exhibition traced the bust from the royal collection through wartime removal to its identification at a Vienna auction. It returned to the Łazienki collection in November 2015.
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.
Paul Signac, Quai de Clichy. Temps gris, 1887 — public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Image source ↗
Berlin, Germany
Germany returns Paul Signac painting to Gaston Prosper Lévy heirs
An official announcement confirms the handover of Paul Signac’s Quai de Clichy. Temps gris (Opus 156) on 3 July 2019 to a representative of Gaston Prosper Lévy’s family. Provenance research into the Gurlitt collection identified it as Nazi-looted property. This was the sixth restitution from that collection. This painting is distinct from Port de la Rochelle.
Paris, France
Delacroix preparatory study rediscovered in a Paris home
A preparatory study for Women of Algiers was identified after being kept by a Paris family. The rediscovery was checked against June 2019 AFP reporting. No theft claim was verified.
Toulouse, France
Painting attributed to Caravaggio sold privately before auction
The Toulouse Judith and Holofernes sold privately in June 2019 before its planned auction. Checked against Le Monde and Artsy. Attribution to Caravaggio was disputed.
Space Venus after the theft; Susanna Strem / Chali Rosso Art Gallery Image source ↗
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Golden egg stolen from Salvador Dalí’s Space Venus
The golden egg was removed from the outdoor bronze Space Venus exhibited by Chali Rosso Art Gallery. The rest of the sculpture remained in place. At publication the gallery was requesting its return, and no suspects or recovery had been reported.
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