Listen to this articleDear 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated using AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve results. Thieves stole three paintings from the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera early Tuesday, the local mayor said. The raiders broke into the museum shortly before 6 a.m. local time and took four paintings, Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor Bryan Masson said on his Facebook page. Police spotted the thieves and gave chase, during which they dropped a painting but escaped with the other three, he said. is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. These actions are particularly serious,” Masson said in his message. The museum was created in 1960 in the mansion of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir on a hill in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, where he died in 1919. The collection on display in the museum includes 13 paintings by the master and some 40 sculptures, furniture and photographs. 2025 Louvre robberyMasson did not identify the stolen paintings. The most important works Valuable Renoir works have fetched tens of millions of dollars at auction in the past. Art thieves in Europe are committing more violent thefts and specialized gangs have been replaced by ad hoc opportunists recruited through social media, pan-European police body Europol said last month. The robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris in October last year was a prime example of this, Europol said, when thieves threatened guards and visitors and stole. 88 million euros ($141.5 million) in jewelry, such as Empress Eugenie’s tiara.
