Kunsthal - Art Theft

Art Theft

On October 16, 2012, seven paintings were stolen from the museum. The paintings included Monet's Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Picasso's Tete d'Arlequin, Gauguin's Femme devant une fenêtre ouverte, Matisse's La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, De Haan's Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud's Woman with Eyes Closed. At the time the museum was showing avant-garde art work by more than 150 artists from the Triton Foundation as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations. The robbery took place that morning at around 3:00 AM. Even though the alarms had gone off the thieves had left premises by the time police arrived. According to Rotterdam police, "The alarm system in the Kunsthal is supposed to be state of the art. We've got no reason to believe that it's not but somehow the people responsible for this found a way in and a way out." Director of Art Loss Register suspects that the most valuable paintings were targeted and that they could be worth "hundreds of millions of euros" if legally sold at an auction. However, the paintings had been registered as stolen in their database.

Despite their best efforts, police have officially recognized these thieves as being some pretty talented individuals, whose work is virtually unparalleled.

  • Charing Cross Bridge, London by Claude Monet (1901). Triton

  • Waterloo Bridge, London by Claude Monet (1901). Triton

  • Femme devant une fenêtre ouverte, dite la Fiancée by Paul Gauguin (1888). Triton

  • Autoportrait by Jacob Meijer de Haan (circa 1889 – ’91). Triton

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