Renoir paintings worth millions stolen from provincial French museum

Valuable Renoir paintings were stolen early Tuesday from a small museum on the French Riviera, and investigators were hunting for the suspected thieves, police said.

Surveillance camera footage identified thieves entering the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer and stealing four paintings worth millions of euros, the town’s mayor, Bryan Masson, said in a statement.

A local policeman looks on as forensic police work near a hole in the outer fence of the Renoir Museum on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. REUTERS

The thieves dropped one of the paintings as they fled, the statement said.

An official with the regional police administration confirmed the theft and the hunt for suspects, and said an investigation is underway.

The official, who wasn’t authorized to be publicly named according to police policy, couldn’t confirm the value of the paintings.

The theft came after the spectacular heist of crown jewels at the Louvre Museum in Paris last year.

The Renoir Museum is housed in the last home of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, where he lived before his death in 1919.

Four paintings, together valued at nine million euros, were stolen in an early-morning break-in, with one recovered nearby. AFP via Getty Images
Two suspects still at large. AFP via Getty Images

It’s the most famous attraction in Cagnes-sur-Mer, situated between Cannes and Nice on the Mediterranean coast.

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