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
505–525 of 764 reports
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.
Robert Motherwell, Untitled (1967), at its return. Photograph: Eileen Kinsella / Artnet News. Image source ↗
New York, United States
Robert Motherwell’s Untitled returned to the Dedalus Foundation
Authorities returned the 1967 Untitled to the Dedalus Foundation. Recorded as missing or stolen around 1978, the painting resurfaced when a former moving-company worker’s son contacted the foundation and voluntarily surrendered it to the FBI.
Rediscovered Artemisia self-portrait acquired by London’s National Gallery — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
London, United Kingdom; Paris, France
Rediscovered Artemisia self-portrait acquired by London’s National Gallery
The National Gallery acquired Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria following its reappearance at auction. The report records rediscovery and acquisition, not theft or restitution.
Context photograph: The original Statue of Liberty in New York, the model for the Las Vegas replica at issue. William Warby · CC BY 2.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Davidson: a postage stamp depicted the Las Vegas Liberty replica
The U.S. Postal Service used a photograph of Robert Davidson’s Las Vegas statue on a stamp. The court found that the replica contained original expression and that the stamp use infringed Davidson’s copyright.
Gdańsk, Poland
Recovered Izaak van den Blocke altarpiece painting handed to Gdańsk museum
Poland’s Ministry of Culture handed Izaak van den Blocke’s Descent of the Holy Spirit to the National Museum in Gdańsk. The painting, made around 1610 for the high altar of St Bridget’s Church, disappeared after 1945 and surfaced in 2007. The photograph shows the work at the museum.
Toronto, Canada
Banksy’s Trolley Hunters stolen from Toronto exhibition
Toronto police investigated the reported theft of a Trolley Hunters print from a privately organised Banksy exhibition. Documentary image from surveillance footage published by NDTV.
Stanley Spencer’s Cookham from Englefield returned to owners — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
London and Cookham, United Kingdom
Stanley Spencer’s Cookham from Englefield returned to owners
The UK government confirmed the painting’s return five years after its theft from a gallery. Police had discovered it beneath a bed during a west London drugs investigation.
New York, United States
Dealer seeks Christie’s refund after a Sisley painting is identified as Nazi loot
Alain Dreyfus sought repayment for Alfred Sisley’s Premier jour de printemps à Moret after provenance researchers linked it to the Lindon family and Nazi confiscation. Christie’s said it had tried to bring the parties together and that the sale warranty had expired.
Bergamo, Italy
Bergamo museum rediscovers a Mantegna in its collection
The Accademia Carrara attributed The Resurrection of Christ to Andrea Mantegna. Research at the museum brought the small Renaissance painting back into the artist’s body of work.
New York, United States
Christie’s removes Etruscan amphora after questions about its provenance
An archaeologist linked an Etruscan black-figure amphora in a Christie’s sale catalogue to images in the confiscated Gianfranco Becchina archive. The house withdrew the amphora. A separate bronze boar flagged by the same researcher remained in the sale. Photo shows the amphora in the archive.
Heino, Netherlands
Return advised for a bronze Moses attributed to Alessandro Vittoria
The Dutch committee advised the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation to return the sculpture for the benefit of Emma Budge’s estate.
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.
Melbourne, Australia
Australian court rejects Mossgreen administrators’ fees for returning consigned objects
The Federal Court ruled that administrators of the collapsed Mossgreen auction house were not justified in requiring consignors to pay an inventory fee to recover their property. Photo shows the auction house in Armadale.
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.
Context photograph · Bomann Museum, the institution that returned the forest landscape · Hombre / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · resized / redimensionnée Image source ↗
Celle, Germany
Celle returns a forest landscape from the Alphons Jaffé collection
A forest landscape formerly attributed to Simon de Vlieger was seized from a loan in Leiden and purchased at auction in 1943. The Bomann Museum returned it to the Jaffé heirs in 2018.
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.
Wiesbaden, Germany
German court convicts dealers in Russian avant-garde forgery case
A Wiesbaden court handed prison sentences to Itzhak Zarug and Moez Ben Hazaz in a case involving forged paintings and invented provenance for works attributed to Russian avant-garde artists including Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky. The image shows a detail from a work attributed to Alexandra Exter that was disputed at trial.
Ferrières-en-Brie, France
Edgar Degas's Les Choristes recovered from a suitcase on a bus
French customs officers found Edgar Degas's Les Choristes (1877) in a suitcase in a bus luggage compartment on 16 February. Stolen in 2009 from the Musée Cantini in Marseille while on loan from the Musée d'Orsay, the pastel was authenticated by Orsay experts. No passenger claimed the suitcase.
Artist portrait: Lee U-fan at a 2016 press briefing; Yonhap Image source ↗
Seoul, South Korea
Appeal ruling upholds sentences in Lee U-fan forgery case
Yonhap reported that the Seoul High Court upheld seven years for a gallery operator and three for a painter in a case involving counterfeit works attributed to Lee U-fan.
Nicolas de Staël painting intercepted in Operation Athena; WCO Image source ↗
81 countries
Athena and Pandora II: over 41,000 objects seized
The WCO reported the late-2017 joint operation, with 101 arrests and over 300 investigations. Seizures included paintings and sculptures.
Context photograph: The Ninth Circuit’s Browning Courthouse, San Francisco. Blackhorsemedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Folkens v. Wyland: dolphins in a natural pose
Pieter Folkens alleged that a marine painting copied the arrangement of dolphins in his drawing. The court found that the natural pose itself was unprotectable and that the protectable expression was not substantially similar.
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