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
127–147 of 764 reports
Rome, Italy
Rome investigation seizes suspected Picasso, Munch and Klee counterfeits
Italian authorities seized works marketed as originals by artists including Picasso, Munch and Klee. The report concerns the seizure and investigation. Still from the RAI report on the seizure.
New York, United States
Phillips sues David Mimran over a Jackson Pollock guarantee
Phillips brought a New York lawsuit over David Mimran’s agreement to guarantee a Jackson Pollock painting at auction. The house sought to enforce the obligation after no other bidder met the threshold. Mimran said he wanted the work and needed more time to pay. Image: Untitled, circa 1948, from the Phillips catalogue.
The Hague, Netherlands
Dutch National Archives recover 25 stolen historical documents
The Dutch National Archives confirmed the return of 25 items, including seventeenth-century records of the Dutch East India Company. The items were found in an attic and passed to art detective Arthur Brand, who worked with police and the archives. Brand’s photograph, published by The Art Newspaper, shows a recovered ship log compiled by Michiel de Ruyter.
Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan
Two bronze statues stolen from a Tokyo public park
Edogawa ward confirmed that two bronze statues installed in a public park had disappeared and reported filing a police complaint.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Johannes Bosschaert’s Fruit Still Life
The Dutch committee recommended returning the Fruit Still Life, NK 2856, in a restitution application from the Dutch Order of Freemasons. Image: Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE).
New York, US / Romania
Romania pursues El Greco’s Saint Sebastian after withdrawn Christie’s sale
Romania secured a hold on Saint Sebastian after it was withdrawn from a New York sale. The state alleges it was removed from the national collection in 1947 by King Michael I. The consignment was traced to Accent Delight in court documents. Image shows the contested El Greco painting, via court filings.
Anaheim, United States
Anaheim police recover two stolen Sir Daniel Winn sculptures
Police recovered Icarus Within and Quantum Mechanics: Ascension in a trailer after receiving tips from the public. Both sculptures had disappeared from an Anaheim Hills warehouse the previous weekend. The photograph published by the Los Angeles Times shows Icarus Within.
America by Maurizio Cattelan, pictured in the 2019 AP/ABC7 report. Image source ↗
Oxford, United Kingdom
Two men jailed over the theft of Cattelan’s gold toilet
Following the 2019 theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s America from Blenheim Palace, James Sheen received four years in prison and Michael Jones 27 months. The Crown Prosecution Service also recorded Fred Doe’s earlier suspended sentence. This report concerns sentencing, not recovery of the artwork.
France
Bill Pallot and Bruno Desnoues convicted in the fake royal furniture case
Furniture expert Bill Pallot and restorer Bruno Desnoues were convicted of forging and selling royal furniture. Pallot received four years, with 44 months suspended, and a €200,000 fine; Desnoues received three years, with 32 months suspended, and a €100,000 fine. Having each served four months in pretrial detention, neither was to return to prison under these sentences. The report concerns the June 2025 judgment.
Bristol / London, United Kingdom
Early Turner painting rediscovered after a signature emerges during cleaning
The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol had been unidentified for about 150 years. Cleaning revealed a signature after the work sold for just over £500 in 2024. Specialists attributed the painting to the young J.M.W. Turner, and Sotheby’s offered it in London in July 2025.
Victor Higgins, Aspens, c.1932. UNM Harwood Museum of Art / FBI. Image source ↗
Taos, New Mexico, United States
Higgins and Sharp paintings returned to Harwood after forty years
The FBI announced that Victor Higgins’s Aspens and Joseph Henry Sharp’s Oklahoma Cheyenne were returned to Harwood Museum on 12 May 2025. Stolen in 1985, the works were publicly unveiled in June. The announcement did not report a conviction for the theft.
Context photograph · Shalom Europa, home of the Jewish community museum in Würzburg · Alrael / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · resized / redimensionnée Image source ↗
Würzburg, Germany
Four Torah binders returned to the Jewish community of Würzburg
The Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History returned four Torah binders to the Jewish community museum in Würzburg. They were linked to synagogues in Würzburg and Kitzingen.
23 countries
Pandora IX: over 37,000 cultural objects seized
INTERPOL reported 37,727 items seized and 80 arrests in the operation conducted throughout 2024. Items included artworks, coins and musical instruments. These were investigative seizures.
Stolen Avalokitesvara statue returns from South Korea to Tsushima — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Tsushima, Japan; South Korea
Stolen Avalokitesvara statue returns from South Korea to Tsushima
A fourteenth-century Buddhist statue reached its Japanese temple after years of litigation in South Korea. It had been taken in 2012; the Korean Supreme Court ordered its return in 2023.
Hong Kong
Sotheby’s postpones Piprahwa relic auction after India intervenes
India’s Ministry of Culture issued a legal notice and held talks with Sotheby’s over jewels associated with the Piprahwa Buddhist relics. Sotheby’s postponed the Hong Kong sale scheduled for May 7 and removed the auction page, according to the ministry. Sotheby’s later facilitated the collection’s return to India in July 2025. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Édouard Manet, La Sultane (1871) · Kunsthaus Zürich / Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
Zurich, Switzerland
Silberberg trust and Bührle Foundation reach an agreement over Manet’s La Sultane
The Silberberg trust and Bührle Foundation reached a settlement over the 1937 sale of Manet’s La Sultane. The painting remains in the collection and the terms are confidential.
New York, United States / Chicago, United States
New York court rules on seizure of Schiele’s Russian War Prisoner
A New York court ruled that the Art Institute of Chicago must turn over Russian War Prisoner, a work claimed by Fritz Grünbaum’s heirs. The record concerns that court’s ruling.
Related artwork: Warhol Lenin on museum display; not the stolen trial proof Image source ↗
Los Angeles, United States
Indictment in alleged sale of stolen Warhol trial proof
The US Justice Department announced charges alleging that a pawn shop owner conspired to sell a stolen trial proof and lied to the FBI. The report describes allegations in the indictment.
The Hague, Netherlands
Mauritshuis reassesses three paintings associated with Rembrandt
The Mauritshuis presented new technical and conservation research on three paintings. It retained its studio-copy attribution for Portrait of Rembrandt with a Gorget, attributed Study of an Old Man to the studio despite a likely genuine signature, and left the authorship of Tronie of an Old Man open. The accompanying image shows the studio copy with the gorget.
Hobart, Australia
Fragments recovered from stolen Hobart orphan memorial sculptures
Two bronze figures by Rowan Gillespie were stolen from St John’s Park in April 2025. Tasmania Police recovered fragments. The commissioning group later confirmed that the originals had been destroyed and that only fragments of one figure were recovered. Image: the original sculptures before the theft, via From the Shadows.
Aichen, Germany
Stolen Sacred Heart sculpture returned after 26 years
Bavarian police matched a recovered Sacred Heart sculpture to photographs from a church theft in 1999 and returned it to the parish. Photo of the recovery: Bavarian police, via BR24.
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