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
526–546 of 764 reports
Genoa, Italy
Prosecution expert identifies fakes in Genoa Modigliani show
A prosecution-appointed expert identified 20 seized works from the 2017 exhibition as forgeries. Exhibition participants disputed the findings. This records expert findings, rather than a final judgment.
New York, United States
Five Hans Hofmann works recovered after Manhattan storage theft
Art Recovery International traced five works by Hans Hofmann that had disappeared from a Manhattan art storage facility. One surfaced in the auction trade, leading to four others. The agency reported in December 2017 that a sixth work, Arcanum, was still missing. Image: Art Recovery International via Artnet.
Paris, France
Fernando Botero's Maternity stolen from a Paris gallery
Fernando Botero's bronze Maternity (2003) was stolen from Galerie Bartoux on 4 November. The 57 cm, 15 kg sculpture was valued at about €425,000. CCTV reportedly showed a man taking it during opening hours; staff discovered the loss at closing time. A police investigation was ongoing at publication, with no recovery reported.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Philippus Endlich pastel · Rijksmuseum · RP-T-1944-247. Image source ↗
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Return advised for a Philippus Endlich pastel in the Rijksmuseum
The committee found it plausible that this pastel, RP-T-1944-247, was surrendered to Liro under occupation regulations in 1943. It recommended returning the drawing to the heirs of its joint owners.
Düsseldorf, Germany
Düsseldorf museum identifies a supposed Malevich as inauthentic
The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen said technical examination dated the materials of Black Rectangle, Red Square to 1950 or later. Kazimir Malevich died in 1935. The painting had been donated to the museum in 2014. Image shows the disputed painting, photographed by Achim Kukulies.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Smidt van Gelder collection · Jacob Ochtervelt · The Oyster Meal. Image source ↗
London, United Kingdom
London returns Jacob Ochtervelt’s The Oyster Meal
Taken from a bank vault in Arnhem in 1945, Jacob Ochtervelt’s painting was returned by the City of London to Smidt van Gelder’s daughter in November 2017.
Ghent, Belgium
Ghent returns two Frits Van den Berghe paintings to the David heirs
Belgian authorities returned Sleeping Nude and Seated Nudes to the heirs of Emile Henri David. The museum had kept both as temporary loans after an Antwerp retrospective in 1940. An official investigation located David’s children. Photo of the handover: Belgian Federal Public Service Economy.
Modena, Italy and Casablanca, Morocco
Guercino altarpiece recovered and entrusted for conservation
Italy’s conservation institute records the 2017 recovery in Morocco of the Guercino painting stolen in Modena in 2014. It was entrusted to the institute in judicial custody on 15 September 2017 for conservation. This is not confirmation of final handover to its owner.
Georg Baselitz pictured with an artwork; contextual photograph, not an identification of the stolen paintings. Image source ↗
Munich and Leverkusen, Germany
Fifteen stolen Georg Baselitz works recovered; four still missing in 2017
Bavarian investigators recovered fifteen paintings and drawings stolen from a logistics company near Munich. Four further works remained missing at the time of the report; the artist asked that individual works not be identified.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Van Wittel’s view of Grottaferrata abbey
The Dutch committee advised returning Caspar van Wittel’s drawing of the Italian abbey to the heirs of Michael Berolzheimer. Image: Rijksmuseum.
Seoul, South Korea
South Korea’s Supreme Court upholds sentence in Lee Jung-seob forgery case
The court upheld Kim Yong-su’s two-year sentence, suspended for three years, in a case involving sales of works bearing forged Lee Jung-seob signatures and plans to exhibit purported works by Lee and Park Soo-keun. Image shows a forgery from the case, via Yonhap.
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.
Gottfried Lindauer, Chief Ngatai-Raure, 1884. New Zealand Police appeal image. Image source ↗
Auckland, New Zealand
Two Gottfried Lindauer portraits stolen in Auckland gallery ram raid
New Zealand Police reported that Chieftainess Ngatai – Raure and Chief Ngatai-Raure, both painted in 1884, were stolen in a vehicle ram raid at the International Art Centre in Parnell at 4am on 1 April 2017. This is the original theft report; the December 2022 return is recorded separately.
Norman Rockwell, Taking a Break (Boy Asleep with Hoe). FBI. Image source ↗
Philadelphia and New Jersey, United States
Norman Rockwell painting returned to family after four decades
The FBI returned Taking a Break, also known as Boy Asleep with Hoe, to the Grant family. It was stolen from their home in 1976. The cooperating possessor was not believed to have participated in the theft.
Context photograph: U.S. Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. Daderot · Public domain · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Star Athletica: graphic designs on cheerleading uniforms
Two apparel companies disputed copyright in the lines, colors and shapes used on uniforms. The Supreme Court held that the designs could qualify as separately identifiable artistic features of a useful article.
Vienna, Austria
Vienna police recover 67 paintings from the Hietzing theft
Police found 67 of the 72 paintings stolen from a villa in Vienna’s Hietzing district in 2014. The recovered works included paintings by Carl Moll, Koloman Moser and Oskar Kokoschka. Five were unaccounted for at the time of the 2017 announcement. Image: Carl Moll’s Kirschblüten in Grinzing, via Der Standard.
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.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Tischbein’s Portrait of an Officer
The Dutch committee advised returning the portrait by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, NK 1715, to the heirs of Count August Krasicki. Image: Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE).
Counterfeit artworks sold by Eric Spoutz; FBI Image source ↗
New York, United States
Dealer sentenced to 41 months for American art forgeries
Eric Ian Hornak Spoutz received imprisonment for selling dozens of forgeries attributed to artists including de Kooning, Franz Kline and Joan Mitchell, using aliases and fabricated provenance.
Santiago, Chile
Chilean police recover José Pedro Godoy’s Trémula V
Carabineros recovered the small oil painting after it was stolen on 3 February from José Pedro Godoy’s exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago. The museum confirmed the recovery one week after the theft. The T13 photograph shows the police recovery.
Bath, United Kingdom
Bath museum attributes Wedding Dance in the Open Air to Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Conservation and technical examination at the Holburne Museum supported attributing Wedding Dance in the Open Air to Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The unsigned painting had been kept in storage and was previously considered the work of a follower.
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