Paris art theft worth €100m

Thieves stole five paintings worth €100m in total from the Musee d'Art Moderne de la ville de including works by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger and Georges Braque, Reuters reports.

Robert Read, head of art and private clients at Hiscox, said private buyers were unlikely to have ordered the robbery as art was acquired to be exhibited.

"It's more likely to be criminals trying to extort money from the museum or state, or who trade it in the underworld for drugs or weapons," he said.

Stolen paintings

The stolen works were Picasso's "Dove with Green Peas," Matisse's "Pastorale," Braque's "Olive tree near l'Estaque," Modigliani's "Woman on the range" and Leger's "Still life with candlesticks."

Museum employees found the broken window at the rear of the east wing of the "Palais de Tokyo".

"It's Pink Panther material in the center of Paris with huge media interest," said Elliot Macdonald, curator of the art collection at Hiscox.

Art Loss Register

The Times added that Alice Farren-Bradley, of the Art Loss Registry in London, called the Paris theft “one of the biggest art heists ever, considering the estimated value, the prominence of the artists and the high profile of the museum”.

“Very often they can be used as collateral to broker other deals involving drugs or weapons,” she said. “They are not necessarily going to be bought by some great lover of the arts.”

Police view art as the fourth biggest criminal enterprise after drugs, weapons and money laundering. Interpol recently contributed to the publication Invisible Museum, a compilation of thousands of missing works.