JUST DAYS after celebrated paintings by Picasso and Matisse were stolen in one of the biggest art heists in French history, it has emerged that a further five works – including a Picasso lithograph – have been taken from the home of a private collector in southern France.
In the latest theft, judicial police said two men managed to get past security gates at a private home in Marseille on Friday. They then knocked on the door and beat up the owner before making away with five pictures. The most important work taken was reportedly a lithograph representing a woman’s face painted by Picasso, but the estimated value of the stolen pieces have not been made public.
Meanwhile, officials at Paris city hall have begun their own investigation into the theft of five masterpieces worth almost €100 million from the Musée d’Art Moderne in the capital last week after confirming that the alarm system had been “partially malfunctioning” since late March.
Christophe Girard, a deputy to Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë with responsibility for culture, confirmed yesterday that the alarm fault had been reported in March but that the museum was still awaiting delivery of a replacement part when the heist was carried out on Thursday morning.
Surveillance cameras show a lone intruder entering through a window at about 4am before carefully removing five paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Léger and Braque and leaving undetected. Although there were three security guards in the building at the time, it was reportedly not until after 6am that staff noticed a smashed window pane and a sawn padlock.
In an interview with the Journal du Dimanchenewspaper, Mr Girard said those responsible had acted "with precision, speed and sophistication", while the movements of the individual captured on CCTV footage suggested he or she was aware of the placement of cameras in the building.
Interpol has alerted its 188 member countries about the Paris theft after French authorities asked for its help in tracking down the stolen paintings.
“The French authorities have made sure that police around the world now have the information they need to assist in locating and eventually recovering these stolen works of art,” Interpol’s Jean-Michel Louboutin said. “These extraordinary paintings by these great masters are so recognisable that they will be difficult to sell.”
Experts have suggested criminal gangs trying to extort money from the museum or state, or who trade the works in the underworld for drugs or weapons, could be behind last week’s robberies.