Major paintings by such artists as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse were stolen from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal Museum on Tuesday. The thieves, who ransacked the museum in the early hours of the morning made off with seven works that may total hundreds of millions of dollars.
The heist is the largest in years for the Netherlands and includes Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed.
The works belong to The Triton Collection, a private collection that is being shown to the public for the first time ever as part of the Museum’s 20th anniversary celebration. The Triton Collection was assembled over a twenty-year period and includes 150 works of modern art spanning from the 19th century to the present day.
The Kunsthal’s alarm went off at 3AM and Rotterdam police have secured evidence from the scene. The police are speaking with potential witnesses and investigators are looking into the security camera footage.
