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.
Loading map…
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
715–735 of 764 reports
Context photograph: The John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, seat of the First Circuit in Boston. ajay_suresh · CC BY 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
.jpg){kind=link}
United States
Phillips: relocating site-specific public sculpture
A sculptor objected to changes to a Boston park where his site-specific work was installed. The appeals court held that the federal Visual Artists Rights Act did not protect the site-specific work as such.
Raphael, Esterházy Madonna, one of the paintings stolen from Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts in 1983 and subsequently returned; reproduction of the artwork, not the recovery scene. Image source ↗
Budapest, Hungary; Greece
Archive: stolen Budapest museum paintings return home in 1984
This archival record, issued in 2006, documents the 1984 return of art stolen from Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts. An MTI photograph dated 25 January 1984 shows conservators unpacking a recovered Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo painting, one of seven works stolen on 5 November 1983. Its caption records the painting’s recovery in Greece on 20 January 1984. This is historical documentation, not a new recovery.
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
Meskenas: a magazine credited the wrong portrait painter
A magazine published a photograph in which a portrait by Vladas Meskenas appeared and attributed the painting to another artist. The court found that the false attribution infringed the painter’s moral rights.
Context photograph: Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, New York. Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Bill Graham Archives: concert posters in a band history
A Grateful Dead biography reproduced reduced images of seven concert posters and tickets. The court found fair use because the images served as historical references in a chronology.
London, United Kingdom
UK panel recommends £175,000 payment over four Feldmann drawings
The Spoliation Advisory Panel found a strong moral claim by Arthur Feldmann’s heirs to four drawings in the British Museum and recommended a government payment at its discretion.
Salvador Dalí, Two Balconies, stolen from Chácara do Céu. FBI reference photograph. Image source ↗
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dalí, Matisse, Monet and Picasso works stolen from Rio museum
A report following the 24 February 2006 Chácara do Céu Museum robbery described the arrest of a driver suspected of assisting. Works by Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso were stolen. The suspect’s arrest was not a conviction.
Context photograph: St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, the subject of both photographs in the dispute. 88maddie.taylor · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Sahuc v. Tucker: two photographs of a New Orleans cathedral
Two photographers depicted St. Louis Cathedral from the same gate in misty conditions. The appeals court upheld the finding that the later photograph did not infringe the first.
Jan van Goyen, View of the Oude Maas near Dordrecht, from the restituted Goudstikker collection. The Jewish Museum. Image source ↗
The Hague, Netherlands
Dutch government decides to restitute 202 Goudstikker artworks
The Dutch government announced a decision to return 202 artworks to Jacques Goudstikker’s heirs after reviewing the collection’s loss during the Nazi era. This February 2006 report records the restitution decision, not completion of the physical handover that day.
Benvenuto Cellini, Saliera. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, via The World of the Habsburgs. Image source ↗
Vienna, Austria
Cellini’s stolen Saliera recovered and returned to Vienna museum
Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum announced the return of Benvenuto Cellini’s Saliera, stolen in 2003. An initial examination found relatively minor damage. Public display was scheduled to resume at the end of January 2006.
Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer II. Photograph: Johannes Stoll, courtesy HomeArt, via Belvedere. Image source ↗
Vienna, Austria
Austrian arbitration orders return of five Klimt paintings
An Austrian arbitration panel ruled that five Gustav Klimt paintings should be returned to the Bloch-Bauer heirs, including Maria Altmann. The January 2006 report records the ruling; the physical transfer followed later.
The Aksum stele in Rome, 1990. Photo: G41rn8, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display. Image source ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Aksum, Ethiopia
The Aksum Obelisk returns to Ethiopia
Italy returned the ancient Aksum stele to Ethiopia in 2005. UNESCO subsequently coordinated its reinstallation. The photograph shows the stele in Rome before its return.
Context photograph: Vigyan Bhavan, the venue for Amar Nath Sehgal’s mural in New Delhi. Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
India
Amar Nath Sehgal: the removal of a public mural
A sculptor challenged the removal and treatment of his bronze mural commissioned for Vigyan Bhavan. The High Court found a violation of the artist’s moral rights and ordered relief including return of the mural remnants and damages.
Gustave Courbet, Femme nue couchée (1862) · Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
Budapest, Hungary
Courbet’s Femme nue couchée returned to the Hatvany heirs
Christie’s identifies the painting as lot 98 in the 1913 Nemes sale and documents its return to the Hatvany heirs in 2005.
Context photograph: Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, New York. Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Pollara: a painted banner made for an advocacy event
An artist sought relief after a banner she painted for an advocacy event was removed and damaged. The appeals court found the banner was promotional material excluded from the federal moral-rights definition of a work of visual art.
Context photograph: The Ninth Circuit’s Browning Courthouse, San Francisco. Blackhorsemedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Kelly: a photographer’s images in search thumbnails
A search engine created reduced versions of Leslie Kelly’s photographs to index images online. The appeals court held that the thumbnail use was fair use because it served a distinct indexing purpose.
Jean-Edme Julliot, gold and blue-enamel snuffbox, 1775–1776, W1/34/1. Listed as stolen by Waddesdon Manor; official missing-object list, p. 5. Image source ↗
Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Over 100 gold boxes and precious objects stolen from Waddesdon Manor
Burglars took over 100 gold boxes and other precious objects from the Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor on 10 June 2003. This is the original theft report. Later reward information and a partial-return update appear separately in the reward panel.
Vincent van Gogh, The Fortifications of Paris with Houses, Whitworth Art Gallery. CC0. Image source ↗
Manchester, United Kingdom
Three works recovered after theft from the Whitworth
Works by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin were recovered after their theft from the Whitworth. The image shows Van Gogh’s The Fortifications of Paris with Houses, one of the three works.
Context photograph: The Ninth Circuit’s Browning Courthouse, San Francisco. Blackhorsemedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Satava v. Lowry: glass jellyfish and originality
Two glass artists disputed similarities between their sculptures depicting jellyfish. The court reversed the preliminary injunction and distinguished natural features and standard glassmaking elements from original expression.
Context photograph: Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa. Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
Canada
Théberge: transferring artwork from paper to canvas
Galleries lifted the ink from authorized posters and transferred it onto canvas. The majority held that the process did not reproduce the image because it did not multiply the copies.
Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon (1952), reproduced in black and white at the artist’s request. © Tate, via The Art Newspaper. Image source ↗
Berlin, Germany
Reward campaign seeks Lucian Freud’s stolen Francis Bacon portrait
A 2001 poster campaign offered up to DM300,000 for Lucian Freud’s Francis Bacon, stolen in Berlin in 1988. Current reward validity is unconfirmed.
London, United Kingdom
UK panel recommends £125,000 payment in Tate’s Griffier case
In its first published case, the Spoliation Advisory Panel examined the wartime loss of Jan Griffier the Elder’s View of Hampton Court Palace. It recommended a discretionary payment and a public account of the painting’s provenance.
ArtTraceX Weekly Brief
The week’s key developments in art theft, forgery, recovery, restitution and the courts. Every Monday.
Subscribe →