Thieves strike Renoir’s former home in stunning €9 million art heist

If you have ever visited the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera you will remember seeing some of his most beautiful and intricate pieces of art along hundreds of items that belonged to him if you was to visit now however some of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s important paintings would now be missing from the walls.

In the early hours of Tuesday, September 8, thieves broke into the museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer stealing four artworks in a raid that lasted only minutes. The stolen piece are Madame Colonna Romano and Jeune femme au puits (Young Woman at the Well), while Madame Pichon and Coco lisant were later discovered to have been discarded by the thieves during the heist

Thieves target Renoir museum

The break-in happened shortly before 6:00am at the museum, which occupies Les Collettes, the former home of Renoir, where the French Impressionist spent the final years of his life. According to local authorities, the thieves cut through a fence surrounding the garden before entering the building. The museum’s alarm was triggered at 5:48am, bringing police to the scene five minutes later. 

The suspects managed to remove four paintings, but their escape was interrupted by the rapid police response. Two of the works were dropped in the museum grounds as the thieves fled and were subsequently recovered. The two paintings still missing were on loan to the museum from Paris’s Musée d’Orsay. 

Two paintings remain missing

The value attached to the four targeted works is estimated at €9 million, although the paintings themselves are effectively impossible to sell openly because of their provenance and the international attention surrounding the theft. The museum’s collection includes Renoir paintings, sculptures, furniture, photographs and personal objects connected to the artist’s life and work. 

For visitors, the loss is about more than a financial figure. The museum is housed in Renoir’s former residence and offers a direct connection to the artist, preserving the setting in which he lived and worked until his death in 1919. The theft therefore removes two pieces of that collection from public view while police search for those responsible. 

Police hunt for the suspects

Cameras captured the two suspects during the break-in, and police are continuing to search for them. The investigation has been taken over by France’s specialist organised and serious crime division, with authorities examining how the thieves gained access and how they managed to reach the artworks before the alarm brought officers to the scene. 

The speed of the raid has also raised fresh questions about the security of French museums. The Renoir theft comes amid a series of high-profile attacks on cultural institutions, including the €88 million Louvre jewellery heist in October 2025 and more recent thefts from French museums. French authorities announced a 33-measure security plan in July, including recommendations to temporarily remove particularly vulnerable objects from public display. 

France faces growing museum security concerns

 The latest raid puts the Renoir Museum among a growing list of French cultural institutions forced to confront the risk of increasingly bold thefts. Europol has warned that art thefts are increasingly being carried out by opportunistic criminals rather than the specialist gangs traditionally associated with major museum robberies. 

For Cagnes-sur-Mer, the incident has hit a particularly sensitive target. The museum is not simply a gallery displaying valuable paintings: it is Renoir’s former home and an important part of the town’s heritage. With two paintings still missing, investigators now face the task of finding the suspects and recovering works that may never be seen by museum visitors again.