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 ↗
Explore by country
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
568–588 of 764 reports
Context photograph · Kunsthalle Bremen, where the Isaak Major drawing was returned and repurchased · Conny / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · resized / redimensionnée Image source ↗
Bremen, Germany
Bremen returns and repurchases an Isaak Major drawing
Provenance research identified an Isaak Major drawing from the Arthur Feldmann collection. The Kunsthalle Bremen returned and repurchased the work in 2016.
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.
Vienna, Austria
Im Kinsky withdraws Nazi-looted Van der Helst portrait at France’s request
The Vienna auction house withdrew Bartholomeus van der Helst’s Portrait of a Man after the French Ministry of Culture asked for time to pursue a solution with the Schloss heirs. The picture belonged to the collection seized from the family in 1943.
Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup I (Beef), 1968. Image released by the FBI. Image source ↗
Springfield, Missouri, United States
Seven Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup I prints stolen from Springfield Art Museum
The FBI reported that seven of the museum’s ten Campbell’s Soup I screenprints were stolen early on 7 April 2016. Its announcement offered up to $25,000 for information leading to their recovery. This report records the investigation’s status in April 2016.
Swiss prosecutors seize disputed Modigliani after Panama Papers revelations — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Geneva, Switzerland; France
Swiss prosecutors seize disputed Modigliani after Panama Papers revelations
Swiss prosecutors secured a disputed Modigliani in a Geneva freeport amid a Nazi-looting ownership claim. The source reports a seizure and investigation, not a completed restitution or a final ownership ruling.
Munch’s Historien lithograph recovered after seven years — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Oslo, Norway
Munch’s Historien lithograph recovered after seven years
Norwegian police announced the recovery of a hand-coloured Historien lithograph stolen from an Oslo gallery in 2009. Two men were arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods; the source does not establish convictions.
Mumbai, India
AstaGuru withdraws painting attributed to Manjit Bawa after authenticity challenge
AstaGuru withdrew the painting from its online Modern Art Auction after a gallery owner challenged its authenticity. The auction house said it was acting as a precaution and that the withdrawal did not establish that the painting was a forgery. Contextual photo shows Manjit Bawa with a different work.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Hunting tapestry claim · The dimensions did not match. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Dimensions undermine a Dutch claim for a hunting tapestry
The committee found that the museum tapestry’s dimensions did not match the measurements of the objects reported missing after the war. It recommended rejecting the claim.
New York, United States
Christie’s sues over alleged unpaid balance on Basquiat painting
Christie’s sought $32.1 million from José Mugrabi and Jombihis Corporation, alleging the outstanding balance had not been paid on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s The Field Next to the Other Road. Mugrabi disputed the account.
Counterfeit painting attributed to Mark Tobey in the Ulvi case. Mark Humpal via Oregon Live / Artnet News. Image source ↗
Portland, Oregon, United States
Larry Ulvi sentenced in Mark Tobey art-forgery scheme
Larry Ulvi received a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud. The scheme included forged paintings attributed to Mark Tobey, and investigators found signature-practice sheets. This report records a sentence following a guilty plea.
Oxford, United Kingdom
UK panel recommends provenance display for Ashmolean Gothic ivory
The UK Spoliation Advisory Panel recommended displaying the object’s history in the former owner’s collection during the Nazi era. It declined to recommend a return or an ex gratia payment.
Five stolen Luis Felipe Noé works recovered in Argentina — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Five stolen Luis Felipe Noé works recovered in Argentina
Argentine authorities announced the recovery of five works stolen from Rubbers gallery in Recoleta in November 2015. The February 2016 publication documents the recovery, not the original theft date.
Collage of forgeries from the Eric Spoutz case. FBI. Image source ↗
Michigan and New York, United States
Eric Spoutz arrested and charged over alleged art forgeries
Federal prosecutors announced Eric Spoutz’s arrest on a fraud charge over dozens of works allegedly misattributed to American artists. This report records the February 2016 charge, not a conviction. His later sentence is covered separately on the site.
Manuscript folios examined by a conservator, pictured in the Jewish Museum in Prague’s announcement of the returned Kyjov/Gaya Pinkas fragment. Image source ↗
Prague, Czechia; Israel
Fragment of stolen Kyjov/Gaya Pinkas returned to Prague
The Jewish Museum in Prague announced the return of a fragment of the Kyjov/Gaya community Pinkas, a manuscript recording the years 1654–1854. The volume was stolen from its archives on 30 January 2007; part appeared in an Israeli auction catalogue in January 2015. The museum identified the folios using copies and microfilm. Czech and Israeli police and INTERPOL assisted the return. Only a fragment, not the complete volume, was returned.
New York, United States
Christie’s withdraws a Celtic dagger amid provenance concerns
Christie’s withdrew an eighth-century BCE Celtic bronze dagger and scabbard from its New York antiquities auction after an antiquities researcher linked the objects to records in the Becchina archive and raised concerns about possible looting. Photo: the dagger and scabbard in the Becchina archive, via ARCA and Artnet.
Leiden, Netherlands
Gold bracelet and Serapis head at issue in Bachstitz claim
The Dutch committee advised against restitution of the two objects, registered together as NK 865 and held at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
N.C. Wyeth, The Encounter on Freshwater Cliff. FBI recovery photograph. Image source ↗
Maine and Boston, United States
FBI completes recovery of six stolen N.C. Wyeth paintings
The FBI announced that the last two paintings from a 2013 Maine theft were surrendered on 9 October 2015. Four others had been recovered in December 2014. The investigation remained open at publication.
Hong Kong
Poly withdraws Hairdressing 2 after Geng Jianyi challenges its authenticity
Poly Auction withdrew a painting offered as Hairdressing 2 from a Hong Kong sale. Geng Jianyi told the auctioneer that the recreation of his early work had not been painted by him.
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.
Context photograph: The Eleventh Circuit’s courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Warren LeMay · CC0 1.0 · Resized and cropped for display
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United States
Katz v. Chevaldina: a photograph used in criticism
A blogger reproduced a photograph of real-estate developer Raanan Katz in posts criticizing him. The appeals court upheld fair use in the circumstances of the critical blog posts.
Beverly Hills, United States / London, United Kingdom
Rodin’s Young Girl with Serpent recovered after Beverly Hills theft
A posthumous bronze cast stolen in 1991 resurfaced in London and was recovered in 2015. It was offered back to its rightful owner.
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The week’s key developments in art theft, forgery, recovery, restitution and the courts. Every Monday.
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