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
736–756 of 764 reports
Context photograph: The Ninth Circuit’s Browning Courthouse, San Francisco. Blackhorsemedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Leicester: street sculptures in Batman Forever
An artist challenged the appearance of towers associated with a Los Angeles building in a film. The appeals court held that the architectural-work exception applied to the film’s depiction of the integrated features.
Context photograph: Middlesex Guildhall, home of the UK Supreme Court, which assumed the House of Lords’ judicial role in 2009. Tom Morris · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United Kingdom
Designers Guild: a floral textile design
A fabric designer alleged that another company copied expressive elements of a striped floral design. The House of Lords restored the trial judgment and emphasized the qualitative importance of what was taken.
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
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United States
Núñez: photographs at the center of a news story
A newspaper published modeling photographs of a beauty queen amid a public controversy about the images. The court upheld fair use because the photographs themselves were central to the story being reported.
Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain. Image source ↗
France
Calvary returned to the Seligmann heirs
The Nazis confiscated the panel from André Seligmann in 1940. It was recovered in Berchtesgaden, returned to France in 1946 and restituted to the Seligmann heirs in 1999.
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
Bridgeman v. Corel: faithful photographs of old paintings
An art-image library claimed copyright in photographic transparencies of public-domain paintings. The federal district court found the faithful reproductions lacked the originality required for the asserted protection.
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
Sandoval: photographs in the background of Seven
The film Seven included the photographer’s prints in several dim background shots. The court held that their brief and indistinct appearance was too slight to constitute actionable copying.
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
Leibovitz v. Paramount: parodying a magazine portrait
A film advertisement recreated the pose and composition of Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of a pregnant Demi Moore. The appeals court held that the advertisement made fair use of the photograph as a parody.
Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893), Nasjonalmuseet. Public domain. Image source ↗
Oslo, Norway
The National Gallery’s Scream stolen and recovered in Oslo
Edvard Munch’s 1893 version of The Scream was stolen from Norway’s National Gallery in 1994 and recovered the same year. The work is now displayed at Nasjonalmuseet.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Germany → France · REC 161 · MNR 1000. Image source ↗
France
The 1994 return of two works from Germany to France
Germany returned a group of works to France in 1994, including a Pissarro pastel from the Georges Couturat collection and a landscape now attributed to an anonymous artist in Courbet’s circle. The museum records document repatriation to France.
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
Rogers v. Koons: a puppy photograph recast as sculpture
Jeff Koons commissioned a sculpture based on Art Rogers’s photograph of a couple holding puppies. The appeals court upheld the infringement finding and rejected Koons’s fair-use defense.
The Kröller-Müller Museum after the theft. Rob C. Croes / Anefo / Nationaal Archief, CC0. Image source ↗
Otterlo, Netherlands
Three Van Gogh paintings stolen from the Kröller-Müller Museum
The paintings taken in December 1988 included the Otterlo version of The Potato Eaters, Dried Sunflowers and Weaver’s Interior. All three were recovered in 1989.
The Stedelijk Museum after the theft. Rob C. Croes / Anefo / Nationaal Archief, CC0. Image source ↗
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Van Gogh, Cézanne and Jongkind paintings recovered after Stedelijk theft
Three paintings taken from Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in May 1988 were recovered later that month. The archival photograph documents the aftermath of the theft.
Johannes Vermeer, Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, National Gallery of Ireland. Public domain. Image source ↗
Russborough, Ireland
Vermeer stolen from Russborough House and recovered
Vermeer’s Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid was stolen from Russborough House in 1986. The National Gallery of Ireland records its recovery in 1993.
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, Musée Marmottan Monet. Public domain. Image source ↗
Paris, France
Monet’s Impression, Sunrise stolen from the Marmottan
Monet’s Impression, Sunrise was among nine works stolen from the Musée Marmottan in 1985. The works were recovered in 1990.
Context photograph: The Eaton Centre in Toronto, where Michael Snow’s installation hangs. Qviri · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
Canada
Snow: ribbons on the geese of Flight Stop
Toronto’s Eaton Centre put holiday ribbons on the geese in Michael Snow’s suspended installation. The court granted an injunction requiring removal of the ribbons after accepting the artist’s objection on integrity grounds.
Context photograph: U.S. Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. Daderot · Public domain · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Mazer v. Stein: statuettes made into lamp bases
Sculpted statuettes were manufactured and sold as lamp bases. The Supreme Court held that the industrial use did not prevent copyright in the sculptural works.
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain. Image source ↗
Essen, Germany
Van Gogh’s Roses returned to the Hirschland heirs
Nazi authorities seized the painting from Georg Simon Hirschland’s collection in Essen in 1939. It was returned to his heirs in New York in 1950.
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain. Image source ↗
Vienna, Austria
A Saxon powder flask returned to the Rothschild heirs
Nazi authorities seized the flask from Baron Alphonse Mayer Rothschild’s collection in Vienna in 1938. Austria returned it to his heirs in 1949.
Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain. Image source ↗
Vienna, Austria
Jan Victors’s The Slaughtered Hog returned to the Haas family
The Nazi authorities confiscated the painting from the Haas home in Vienna in 1938. It was recovered after the war and returned to the family in 1948.
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain. Image source ↗
Paris, France
A Van der Heyden painting returned to Karl Neuman
Nazi authorities seized Jan van der Heyden’s east view of Huis ten Bosch from Baron Karl Neuman in Paris. The Met records its return to Neuman by 1947.
Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain. Image source ↗
France
Fantin-Latour self-portrait recovered and returned to France
The Nazi ERR confiscated the self-portrait from the David-Weill collection. It was recovered at Alt Aussee and returned to France in 1946, with David-Weill recorded as the presumed owner.
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