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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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
673–693 of 764 reports
Cairo, Egypt
Van Gogh’s Poppy Flowers stolen in Egypt
AFP reported on 23 August 2010 that Vincent van Gogh’s Poppy Flowers had been stolen from Cairo’s Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum on 21 August. The painting was missing at publication.
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally Neuzil. Leopold Museum collection image. Image source ↗
New York, United States; Vienna, Austria
$19 million settlement resolves Portrait of Wally dispute
A settlement provided $19 million to Lea Bondi Jaray’s estate in the dispute over Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally. The painting would remain with the Leopold Museum, with acknowledgment of its looted history. The agreement did not return the painting to the heirs.
Créteil, France
Prison sentences in the Guy Ribes art forgery ring
A Créteil court handed down prison sentences in a case involving a network that sold paintings falsely attributed to established artists. Documentary portrait of Guy Ribes: Stern.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Joseph Stodel collection · Adrianus Eversen · NK 1762. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for Adrianus Eversen’s town view to the Stodel heirs
The committee recommended returning Adrianus Eversen’s View in a Dutch Town, NK 1762, to Joseph Stodel’s heirs.
Context photograph: MASS MoCA, the museum involved in the dispute. Phoebe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
MASS MoCA v. Büchel: moral rights in an unfinished installation
An artist and a museum disagreed about the handling and proposed presentation of a large unfinished installation. The appeals court held that unfinished works can qualify for moral-rights protection and revived part of the artist’s claims.
Claude Monet, Beach in Pourville. Image published by Polish police. Image source ↗
Poznań and Olkusz, Poland
Claude Monet’s Beach in Pourville recovered in Poland
Polish police announced the recovery on 12 January 2010 of Claude Monet’s Beach in Pourville. The painting had been stolen from Poznań’s National Museum in 2000 and replaced with a copy. A suspect was arrested; this report does not establish a conviction.
Seoul, South Korea
Korean court rules on Park Su-geun’s disputed Washing Place sold by Seoul Auction
A Korean court found the disputed Park Su-geun painting was not a forgery. It also rejected Seoul Auction’s defamation claim against the publisher and editor of a magazine that questioned its authenticity. Photo: Washing Place above another painting in the series, JoongAng Ilbo.
Wouter Verschuur II, Horses by a Stable, NK 2569 · RCE / Wikimedia Commons · PDM 1.0 Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for a Verschuur watercolour from the Hollander collection
The committee recommended returning Horses by a Stable, a watercolour by Wouter Verschuur II, NK 2569, to the heirs of Eduard Hollander.
Muhammad Ali portrait illustrated in ABC’s report on the stolen Warhol collection. Credit: duckhenge.uoregon.edu/io, via ABC/Reuters. Image source ↗
Los Angeles, United States
Eleven Warhol portraits stolen from a Los Angeles home
Ten Andy Warhol portraits of athletes and a portrait of collector Richard Weisman were stolen from Weisman’s west Los Angeles home. The theft was discovered on 3 September 2009. Reuters reported that police found no forced entry and that other Warhol works were left behind. No recovery or charges were announced in this report.
Femme de profil, identified by Première as a drawing in the stolen Picasso album. Credit: Première / Fluctuat. Image source ↗
Paris, France
A red Picasso sketchbook disappears from the Paris museum
A notebook containing 33 pencil drawings by Pablo Picasso disappeared from the Musée Picasso in Paris during the night of 8–9 June 2009. The red, 16-by-24cm album contained drawings dated 1917–1924 and was then valued at €8 million. Le Journal des Arts reported the theft during museum renovation work; its report did not announce a recovery or identify a convicted offender.
Portrait of a Woman, NK 2894, one of the two Florentine portraits · RCE / Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
Maastricht, Netherlands
Return advised for two paintings to the heirs of Leo Nardus
The committee recommended returning two late fifteenth-century Florentine portraits, NK 2894 and NK 2895, to the heirs of Leo Nardus.
Paris, France
China opposes Christie’s sale of two Old Summer Palace bronzes
Christie’s offered bronze rabbit and rat heads looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace in the nineteenth century. A French court declined to block the sale, and the winning bidder refused to pay. François-Henri Pinault returned both heads to China in 2013. Photo: the two bronzes, Xinhua via MIT Visualizing Cultures.
Picasso, Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, stolen from MASP; Arte Que Acontece Image source ↗
São Paulo, Brazil
Four convicted in MASP Picasso and Portinari theft
The paintings were stolen in December 2007 and recovered in January 2008. The prison sentences remained subject to appeal.
New York, United States
Court denies museums’ summary judgment motion in Picasso title dispute
The federal court explained why it allowed Julius Schoeps’s ownership dispute over two Picasso paintings, including Boy Leading a Horse, to proceed at that stage. Image of Boy Leading a Horse: Museum of Modern Art.
New York, United States
Art Fin. Partners pursues refunds from Christie’s after a cancelled auction transaction
Entities controlled by Andrew Rose sought to recover payments connected to a 2005 Christie’s auction. The appellate court upheld the refusal to dismiss Christie’s counterclaims or award summary judgment on the refund request. Image: Christie’s New York saleroom, via Wikimedia Commons.
Context photograph: Law Courts Building in Sydney, a seat of the Federal Court of Australia. JustARandomEditor123 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
Australia
Elwood v. Cotton On: artwork printed on clothing
Elwood alleged that Cotton On copied layouts from graphic designs used on its clothing. The Full Court found that the arrangement of elements could constitute a substantial part and allowed the appeal.
Beijing, China
Beijing court rejects buyer’s claim over disputed Wu Guanzhong attribution
A buyer who paid 2.3 million yuan before fees for a painting catalogued as Pond by Wu Guanzhong asked to rescind the sale. Beijing’s First Intermediate People’s Court rejected his claim against the consignor and Beijing Hanhai. Contextual portrait of Wu Guanzhong by Chua Soo Bin, via Tsinghua University Art Museum.
Anna Rosina von Lisiewska, Woman Playing a Lute, NK 1931 · RCE / Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for Woman Playing a Lute to the Wassermann heirs
The committee recommended returning Anna Rosina von Lisiewska’s Woman Playing a Lute, NK 1931, to the heirs of Sigmund Wassermann.
New York, United States
Christie’s litigates the cancellation of a Picasso sculpture sale
A consignor and Christie’s disputed the auction house’s decision to rescind the sale of Tête Cubiste (Tête de Fernande), a bronze attributed to Picasso after the buyer questioned its authenticity. Claude Picasso later supplied a certificate. The New York court declined to dispose of the core contract dispute on summary judgment. Image: a separate museum cast of Picasso’s Head of a Woman (Fernande), Musée national Picasso-Paris.
Claude Monet, Cliffs near Dieppe, one of the stolen paintings; The Guardian Image source ↗
Nice, France and Miami, USA
Guilty plea in Nice museum four-painting theft case
Bernard Ternus pleaded guilty to a conspiracy involving stolen Monet, Sisley and Brueghel paintings taken in the August 2007 robbery.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · George Eduard Behrens collection · Corot · Female Figure at a Well. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for Corot’s Female Figure at a Well to the Behrens heirs
The committee examined the loss of Corot’s painting after the persecution and detention of George Eduard Behrens. It recommended restitution to his heirs.
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