Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse have been stolen from a museum in northern Italy, in a brazen heist that took just three minutes, according to authorities.
Renoir’s 1917 oil painting “Les Poissons,” Cezanne’s 1890 watercolor “Tasse et plat de cerises” and Matisse’s 1922 piece of work “Odalisque sur la terrasse” were taken from the Magnani Rocca Foundation, located near the city of Parma, a spokesperson for the Carabinieri of Parma and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna told CNN.
Four hooded thieves forced their way through a first floor door in the museum’s Villa of Masterpiece overnight between March 22 and 23, but the museum chose to keep the audacious heist a secret, the police spokesperson told CNN, in the hope of catching the thieves if they returned.
Police said the surveillance footage shows the thieves making off with the paintings across the lush gardens of the villa, with the museum’s alarm system sounding in the background.
No arrests have been made and the museum continues to remain open during its usual business hours.
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