The recovery

Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, taken a month earlier from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer near Nice, have been recovered. Mayor Bryan Masson announced the recovery on Friday, 9 October. The works are Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano, painted in 1910, and Jeune fille au puits (Young Woman at the Well), a 1886 work that the painter never finished. City hall said the paintings were found on Thursday, 8 October, according to BBC reporting.

The police statement did not explain the circumstances of the discovery. Nice-Matin, cited by BBC, reported that the paintings were found in a garage outside the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region and that they appear to be in good condition. The mayor had announced that more details would be given at a press conference on Friday, but that event was postponed.

These two paintings are far more than works of art. They are part of our city's history, our cultural heritage and the legacy Auguste Renoir left to Cagnes-sur-Mer.

— Bryan Masson

In his statement, the mayor, who is a member of France's National Rally, also said their recovery was a tremendous relief for the people of Cagnes-sur-Mer.

Key dates in the Renoir Museum theft and recovery
  1. Two thieves break into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer and take two of four targeted paintings
  2. Paintings found, according to city hall as reported by BBC
  3. Mayor Bryan Masson announces the recovery of the two paintings

The theft

Two thieves broke into the museum in the early morning of 8 September. They cut a hole in the garden fence, broke a window to enter the building, and sawed through the fixings of four paintings with an electric saw. A municipal police patrol, alerted by the alarm, intervened within minutes, which likely forced the thieves to leave in a hurry.

The thieves got away with two paintings. They abandoned Madame Pichon, a portrait from 1895, and Coco lisant (Coco Reading), a 1905 portrait of Renoir's youngest son Claude, in the museum garden. When the theft was reported, the mayor put the value of the four targeted works at about 9 million euros. He did not explain at the time how that valuation was reached.

Paintings targeted in the 8 September theft (paintings)
Targeted4Taken2Left in garden2

Arrests and suspects

Reports on the arrests differ. Most outlets say six suspects have been arrested, and Nice-Matin, cited by BBC, placed the arrests in several regions, including Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Herault and Doubs. According to BBC, two of those detained are suspected of directly carrying out the theft. Nice-Matin described the suspects as probably members of an organised criminal group with different roles. RFI's Portuguese-language report, however, said five people were detained on Thursday, including the two suspected of the theft, and an RFI Russian-language report gave the number as five people detained on Wednesday, 7 October.

A run of museum thefts

The Renoir theft is one of a series of high-value art thefts in Europe. De Standaard reported that French museums have repeatedly been targeted in recent months, following the Louvre robbery in Paris on 19 October 2025. In July, thieves broke into a museum in Strasbourg and stole jewellery worth about 4.5 million euros. A museum in Chatillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy lost a gold necklace that is 2,500 years old. Earlier this year, paintings by Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from a museum near the Italian city of Parma in an operation that lasted just three minutes, according to NEWS 24/7. Those works were recovered in August.