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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The two Renoir paintings still missing after a September 8 break-in at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer have been recovered. France’s Ministry of Culture said on October 12 that they were transferred to a conservation center in Marseille for examination and any necessary restoration. No date has been announced for their return to the museum.
Which Renoir paintings were recovered?
The recovered works are Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and La Jeune Femme au puits (Young Woman at the Well). Both had been taken from the municipal museum, where four Renoir paintings were on deposit from the Musée d’Orsay.
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The other two stolen works, Portrait of Madame Stephen Pichon and Coco lisant (Coco Reading), were abandoned near the museum as the thieves fled. The ministry’s September 8 account lists all four paintings and describes the two works left behind.
Where are the paintings now?
As of the Ministry of Culture’s October 12 update, the recovered paintings were at Marseille’s Centre interdisciplinaire de conservation et de restauration du patrimoine (CICRP). Specialists are to examine them and carry out any necessary restoration before they can return to the Renoir Museum. The ministry has not announced a return date, and the works have not been reported as back on display.
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France’s Ministry of Culture: October 12 transfer update
What happened during the museum heist?
The Ministry of Culture said two people broke into the museum at 5:48 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8. Its account says the alarm sounded at that time and municipal police arrived at 5:53 a.m. The Associated Press, citing prosecutor Nicolas Bessone, reported that the intruders cut through a fence with an electric saw, entered at ground level and cut the clips holding the paintings. AP gives the police response as four minutes after the alarm, a one-minute difference from the ministry’s stated arrival time; the accounts do not establish a single exact interval.
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According to Bessone’s account reported by AP, the police response appears to have panicked the thieves, who left two paintings nearby while escaping with the other pair.
How were the missing paintings found?
AP reported that DNA recovered from a protective cover matched a 29-year-old man already under investigation in an unrelated drug-trafficking case. Vehicle-tracking data and surveillance then connected that suspect with other men. Investigators found the paintings hidden behind a wall beneath a staircase in a suspect’s home.
Bessone said the arrests came amid a “very strong suspicion that another heist was imminent,” according to AP.
What is the legal status of the case?
AP reported on October 12 that four men had received preliminary charges. Two were charged with organized theft and criminal association, among other counts, and were held pending the investigation. They denied wrongdoing, AP reported, citing the prosecutor. Two others were charged with concealing stolen paintings and placed under judicial supervision. Two additional people arrested earlier were released without charge.
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These are preliminary charges and reported allegations, not convictions. The investigation remains ongoing.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Were the paintings damaged, and what are they worth?
Bessone told AP that Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano had a tear and that Young Woman at the Well had slight damage to its frame. He estimated the recovered pair’s combined value at €4.2 million ($4.7 million). That is the prosecutor’s estimate as reported by AP, not an independently established market valuation.
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Why were the paintings on loan?
The Ministry of Culture says the four paintings were on deposit from the Musée d’Orsay. It also says three of the four stolen works carry the MNR designation, which applies to cultural property recovered after World War II whose owners could not be identified. The state holds such objects provisionally. The ministry’s notice does not identify which three works have that designation, so it does not establish that either recovered painting is MNR.
What has France said about museum security?
In its September 8 statement, the Ministry of Culture cited a museum security action plan announced in July 2026, including a €30 million security fund. The ministry said 482 priority projects had received support nationwide. It also described random mandatory visits by ministry security advisers and a requirement for a favorable security opinion for loans of works from national museums.
Those are nationwide measures reported by the ministry; they do not show whether any particular measure would have prevented this break-in.
France’s Ministry of Culture: September 8 statement on the theft and security measures
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