Art theft

This article is about theft of physical works of art. For plagiarism of art, sometimes also called "art theft", see Plagiarism § In the arts.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed in 1990, losing paintings and items valued at over $500 million.

Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans.[1] Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%.[2] Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.[3]

Some famous art theft cases include the robbery of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911 by employee Vincenzo Peruggia.[4] Another was theft of The Scream, stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004, but recovered in 2006.[5] The largest-value art theft occurred at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, when 13 works, worth a combined $500 million were stolen in 1990. The case remains unsolved. Large-scale art thefts include the Nazi looting of Europe during World War II and the Russian looting of Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6]

  1. ^ Hopkins, Nick (January 8, 2000). "How art treasures are stolen to order". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016.
  2. ^ Rovzar, Chris (June 15, 2015). "What Happens to Stolen Art After a Heist?". ClaimsJournal. Bloomberg. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference police was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference monalisa25 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Scream stolen from Norway museum". BBC News. August 22, 2004. Retrieved September 3, 2006.
  6. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey; Mykolyshyn, Oleksandra (January 14, 2023). "As Russians Steal Ukraine's Art, They Attack Its Identity, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2023.