Two Armed Thieves Stole Eight Matisse Prints From a São Paulo Library
A robbery at Brazil’s Mário de Andrade Library is the latest daytime heist to shake the art world
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Two armed men stole over a dozen artworks, including eight prints by French artist Henri Matisse, from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo, Brazil, during viewing hours on Sunday.
Five works by Candido Portinari, a renowned neo-realist Brazilian painter, were also included in the theft. The robbery was first reported by Brazilian outlet Globo.
The robbers threatened a security guard and an elderly couple with guns, according to Brazilian authorities. Then, they took the Matisse works off the wall and placed them into a canvas bag, witnesses told local media, per the Wall Street Journal’s Samantha Pearson. They grabbed the five Portinari works before escaping on foot, authorities said.
Security footage showed one of the suspects buckling under the weight of the framed prints as they walked down São Paulo’s sidewalks undetected, per the Wall Street Journal. Footage obtained by Globo shows a suspect leaving the works near a pile of trash and walking away, reports Hyperallergic’s Isa Farfan.
The stolen works were part of “Do Livro ao Museu” (From the Book to the Museum), an exhibition held at the library in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. The exhibition showcased a rare selection of art books, prints and drawings that “reveal the shared modernist past of the two institutions,” per a review by Newcity Brazil’s Ivi Brasil.
The display included celebrated prints from a limited-edition copy of Matisse’s Jazz, a 1947 book featuring prints of the French artist’s colorful cut-paper collages and written thoughts. Among the prints on display were stenciled images of a circus, a cowboy and animals, per the New York Times’ Jin Yu Young.
“Their value is cultural, historical and artistic,” São Paulo’s City Hall says of the stolen works, per the Wall Street Journal. “Economically, they are priceless.”
On Monday, police arrested a 31-year-old man with drug trafficking convictions in relation to the heist. They are still looking for his accomplice, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The São Paulo heist comes almost two months after thieves disguised as construction workers stole crown jewels worth $102 million from the Louvre during operating hours. The robbery, which took about seven minutes, shocked the art world and raised concerns around the security of valuable cultural objects.
Quick facts: What happened at the Louvre?
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Masked burglars stole eight French crown jewels from the Louvre in broad daylight on October 19.
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The artifacts included: “a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch,” reports the Associated Press’ Thomas Adamson.
Thieves often target museums because they have minimal security due to a lack of funding, London-based lawyer and Art Recovery International CEO Christopher A. Marinello tells the New York Times. “They don’t fear security or law enforcement and are, in some cases, getting violent,” he says.
The Jazz prints are among Matisse's best-known works. By 1943, Matisse’s health was suffering, leaving him unable to paint as freely as he had before. So the artist returned to a cut-collage technique he had used previously and produced 20 colorful paper cut-outs.
As Sotheby’s noted in an auction catalogue, “The combination of bright colors and spontaneous subject matter evoke a joie de vivre which further elevates Jazz as one of the most beautiful, groundbreaking and personal artist’s books of the 20th century.”