Recovery reports
Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir recovered
Two paintings stolen from the Renoir Museum in September were recovered. Six suspects were arrested in connection with the investigation.
Documented dossier
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
These reports bring together Renoir thefts, recoveries and related criminal proceedings, from museum collections to auction premises and private holdings. The Dorotheum reports distinguish the theft from the subsequent sentence; reward notices and recovery announcements should be read at their source dates.
10 reports · Source dates: 19 Feb 2008 — 9 Oct 2026
Recovery reports 2Theft reports 3Restitution reports 3Legal disputes 2
Each entry reflects its source on the stated date. A historical theft report does not mean a work remains missing. Attributions, allegations and decisions remain distinct; this dossier does not authenticate artworks.
Artwork Details & DocumentationIdentification, ownership history and supporting records
Head of a Young Girl (Gabrielle)
- Artwork title
- Head of a Young Girl (Gabrielle)Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
- Maker / attribution
- Pierre-Auguste RenoirMonuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
- Object type
- PaintingMonuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
- Materials & technique
- Oil on canvasMonuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
- Measurements
- 48.50 × 39.50 cm (19.09 × 15.55 in.)Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
- Creation date / period
- 1895Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
Not documented in this record: inscriptions & markings · distinguishing features · subject.
Documented ownership history
- Before 1938
- 1938-07-02
Packed for shipment via Rotterdam with Nachmann’s belongings; missing from the consignment on arrival in New York.
Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checked
Only stages supported by the cited sources are shown. This list is not a complete chain of ownership.
Identification details follow the Object ID categories where documented. Ownership history is recorded separately; this documentation is not an authentication or a certificate of ownership.
Reports and developments
Newest source reports first
Recovery reports
Paintings by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir recovered in Italy
Police recovered three paintings stolen from a private museum in Italy in March.
Theft reports
Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings stolen from private museum
Three works were taken during a burglary at a private museum. Their recovery is recorded separately in the archive.
Restitution reports
Hagen returns and repurchases Renoir seascape
The city of Hagen returned Renoir’s View of the Sea from Haut Cagnes to the heirs of Jewish banker Jakob Goldschmidt. It then repurchased the painting so it could remain in the Osthaus Museum. Image: City of Hagen.
Legal disputes
Sentence following Renoir theft at Dorotheum
ORF reported a sentence against one of three men in the November 2018 Renoir theft. The judgment was not final at the publication date.
Theft reports
Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting stolen from Vienna’s Dorotheum auction house
Vienna police reported that three men removed a Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting from its frame at the Dorotheum on 26 November 2018. The auction catalogue identifies it as Golfe, mer, falaises vertes, 1895. This records the original theft stage; the 2019 sentencing report is separate.
Restitution reports
Renoir’s Two Women in a Garden returned to Weinberger’s heir
The Renoir was presented to Sylvie Sulitzer, granddaughter of collector Alfred Weinberger, at a New York ceremony. It had been looted from the family’s bank vault in Paris in 1941.
Restitution reports
Renoir’s On the Shore of the Seine returns to museum
The Baltimore Museum of Art confirmed the return to its collection of the painting stolen in 1951 and announced The Renoir Returns, opening on 30 March 2014. Archival research supported its identification.
Theft reports
FBI appeals for Renoir stolen in Houston armed robbery
The FBI sought information on Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair (1918), stolen from a Houston home on 8 September 2011. The 2012 appeal cited a private insurer’s reward of up to $50,000. Its present validity has not been verified.
Legal disputes
Collector challenges Sotheby’s assessment of a purported Renoir pastel
Collector Robert Kitchen argued that an image Sotheby’s classified as a print was a pastel study by Pierre-Auguste Renoir for The Bathers. The New York court dismissed his claim and declined to set that decision aside. Image: Renoir’s completed The Great Bathers, Philadelphia Museum of Art.