Early this morning, two burglars stole “four works of art” from the Renoir Museum in Cannes-sur-Mer on the French Côte d’Azur, one of which they were forced to abandon as they fled, announced the mayor of this town in southeastern France, where the famous Impressionist painter spent the last years of his life.
The thieves broke into the museum shortly before 6 a.m., said Mayor Brian Mason. He added that the police located and pursued them, but they managed to escape.
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“After being spotted thanks to the city’s security cameras, the two individuals fled, abandoning one of the paintings they had stolen in the process,” the mayor said in a statement, in which he estimated the value of the works stolen from this museum-workshop—surrounded by an olive grove—at 9 million euros.
“The museum’s alarm went off at 5:48 a.m. (local time, 6:48 a.m. Cyprus time). At 5:53 a.m., that is, five minutes later, our municipal police were on the scene,” clarified the far-right mayor, who added that “Attacking the Renoir Museum is like attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cannes-sur-Mer. These acts are particularly serious.”
This theft occurred nearly a year after the high-profile break-in at the Louvre Museum in central Paris.
The Renoir Museum in Cannes-sur-Mer, not far from Nice, was established in 1960 in the final residence of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). Today, in addition to the original furnishings, the Renoir Museum displays objects and furniture that belonged to Renoir—such as his easel and his wheelchair—as well as portraits, landscapes, and nudes painted by the artist.
Source: APE-MPE
