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
106–126 of 764 reports
Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Operation Dora Maar seizes suspected Picasso, Rubens and Rembrandt forgeries
Bavarian police reported raids in three countries on 15 October in an investigation into attempted organised art fraud. Twenty suspected forgeries were seized. A copy of Rembrandt's De Staalmeesters had allegedly been offered for 120 million Swiss francs, although the original is in the Rijksmuseum. Eleven people were under investigation; expert examinations were continuing, and no conviction was announced.
Paris, France
Louvre jewels added to INTERPOL stolen art database
INTERPOL published entries following the 19 October theft of jewels from the Louvre.
UNESCO documents reconstruction of Mosul’s damaged heritage — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Mosul, Iraq
UNESCO documents reconstruction of Mosul’s damaged heritage
UNESCO described reconstruction of the Al-Nouri Mosque, Al-Hadba Minaret and Al-Saa’a Convent after wartime destruction. The report concerns built heritage and cultural recovery, not the recovery of a stolen portable artwork.
New York, United States
Sotheby’s notifies regulators of a data breach
Sotheby’s notified Maine’s attorney general of a data breach in 2025. The filing records an incident in July and notices to affected Maine residents in October. Sotheby’s did not publicly identify the party responsible. File photograph: Sotheby’s New York, courtesy of the auction house.
The Hague, Netherlands
Dutch committee backs partial restitution in Morpurgo dealership case
The committee recommended return for three inventory groups and rejection for eleven others. The claim covered objects linked to Amsterdam antiques dealer Louis Morpurgo.
Parma, Italy
Italy seizes 21 suspected Dalí forgeries from an exhibition in Parma
The Carabinieri seized 21 objects from Salvador Dalí: Between Art and Myth after the Gala–Salvador Dalí Foundation flagged authenticity concerns during the show’s run in Rome. The seizure included tapestries, drawings and engravings. Photo shows officers with some of the seized works, Carabinieri via AP.
Old Kingdom limestone funerary statue. Image: U.S. Department of Justice. Image source ↗
Baltimore, United States; Egypt
Federal court orders forfeiture of 14 Egyptian antiquities
A default judgment in Maryland completed the forfeiture of 14 illegally imported Egyptian artifacts. They included an Old Kingdom limestone funerary statue and smaller objects intercepted in shipments.
Albert Heinrich Brendel painting stolen in Chile recovered in Argentina — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Castelar, Argentina; Valparaíso, Chile
Albert Heinrich Brendel painting stolen in Chile recovered in Argentina
Argentina’s Federal Police seized Establo con ovejas after tracing an online sale offer to Castelar. The nineteenth-century painting had been reported stolen from a former Chilean diplomat’s home in 2023.
Berlin, Germany
Two de Belsunce portraits stolen in Berlin
Berlin police appealed for information on two French-school oil paintings depicting the Marquis and Marquise de Belsunce, stolen in Charlottenburg. Photo: Berlin Police.
Paris, France
Three Fédor Löwenstein paintings returned to the artist’s family
France returned Les Peupliers, Arbres and Composition to Richard Brook, a relative of the Jewish Czechoslovak painter Fédor Löwenstein. The paintings were seized at Bordeaux while awaiting shipment to New York. Image: Composition, Centre Pompidou / Dist. RMN-GP.
Christine Oaklander with a counterfeit purchased from Reese; The Philadelphia Inquirer Image source ↗
Pennsylvania, United States
Carter Reese sentenced in counterfeit art scheme
Reese received imprisonment, supervision and restitution after admitting sales of works he knew were falsely attributed to artists including Bacon, Basquiat, Picasso and Warhol.
Newark, Ohio, United States
Ohio auction halted after two Schloss paintings are identified
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation identified two floral still lifes attributed to Ambrosius Bosschaert at Apple Tree Auction Center in Newark, Ohio. It traced them to the Schloss collection, looted during the Second World War. The auction house pulled the works after the foundation contacted it.
Christchurch, New Zealand
Only fragments of Llew Summers’s Flight recovered
Police announced an arrest in the theft investigation. Investigators said the bronze sculpture had been destroyed and much of it sold as scrap.
Adelaide, Australia / Heretaunga, New Zealand
South Australian Museum returns two Māori ancestral carvings
Two carved wooden wall panels from Te Whare o Heretaunga were repatriated to Aotearoa through the Tamatea Pōkai Whenua Trust after a farewell at the South Australian Museum. The two pou had arrived in Adelaide in 1891 and belong to a dispersed group of about 60 carvings commissioned for a Māori meeting house.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
Washington, D.C., United States; Cyprus
FBI returns ancient chariot model and flask to Cyprus
The FBI handed over a terracotta quadriga model and a bichrome flask at the Cypriot embassy on 4 August 2025. Both objects are estimated to be more than 2,600 years old.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
Mexico; United States
FBI returns a manuscript page signed by Hernán Cortés to Mexico
The FBI returned a page signed by Cortés in 1527 to Mexico on 13 August 2025. The page had been missing from the Mexican national archives, which requested the FBI’s help in 2024.
Luben Boykov’s Amelia Earhart statue at Harbour Grace in 2022, before its theft. VOCM News. Image source ↗
Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Amelia Earhart statue returned to Harbour Grace after recovery in pieces
RCMP said all pieces of the Amelia Earhart statue stolen in April 2025 were recovered near Heart’s Content on 8 August and returned to the town. The statue had been cut apart. The investigation continued; neighbouring stolen plaques remained missing.
Chicago, United States
US appeals court upholds sanctions in Peter Doig attribution case
An appellate court upheld a $2.5 million sanctions award in litigation over a landscape signed Pete Doige that a court had found was not painted by Peter Doig. Image of the disputed painting from court documents, via The Art Newspaper.
Berlin, Germany
Two stolen bronze sculptures returned to a Berlin cemetery
Berlin police returned two statues of Christ seized during a search. The police reported seizing 85 bronzes in the wider investigation and returning 14 sculptures by that date.
London, United Kingdom
Buyer challenges Christie’s disclosures on a Picasso’s former ownership
Brewer Management sued Christie’s over the 2023 London auction of Picasso’s Femme dans un rocking-chair (Jacqueline). The company alleged that the auction house had not disclosed that a former owner was a convicted cocaine trafficker. It sought to unwind its third-party guarantee agreement and recover its initial payment. Image: the Picasso, via Hyperallergic.
Belluno, Italy / London, United Kingdom
Antonio Solario’s Madonna and Child returns to Belluno after a 1973 museum theft
The Madonna and Child by Antonio Solario returned to Belluno’s civic museums on 21 July 2025, more than fifty years after the theft. Its last private possessor voluntarily surrendered the painting to Carabinieri at the Italian Embassy in London. The handover photograph was published by Rai News and credited to ANSA.
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