Mario de Andrade Library in S?o Paulo, Brazil
Collaborative Exhibition with Museum of Modern Art
Artwork Stolen by Intruders
CCTV Footage Under Review
Two Months After the Louvre Theft
An incident occurred at a library in S?o Paulo, Brazil, where intruders broke in and stole 13 pieces of artwork, including eight prints by the renowned French artist Henri Matisse. According to AFP, as reported by Yonhap News on December 7 (local time), S?o Paulo authorities stated that two armed men broke into the Mario de Andrade Library that day, stole works by Matisse, and fled the scene.
An intruder broke into the Mario de Andrade Library in S?o Paulo, Brazil, and stole works by Matisse before fleeing. Mario de Andrade Library Instagram
The Mario de Andrade Library had been hosting a contemporary art exhibition in collaboration with the S?o Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM), and the exhibition was scheduled to end that day. In addition to the works by Matisse, it was reported that five pieces by Candido Portinari, one of Brazil’s most prominent painters, were also among the stolen items.
Authorities in S?o Paulo did not disclose the value of the stolen works, but noted that the pieces were insured and that closed-circuit (CC)TV cameras had been installed inside the library. Police are currently tracking the suspects based on footage from the library’s CCTV system.
Matisse, the founder of Fauvism, is a modern art master known as the “alchemist of line” for his pursuit of simplicity and boldness in both drawing and printmaking.
Large-scale art thefts have occurred in Brazil before. In 2006, during a street festival in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, four armed men disguised as tourists subdued two security guards at the Ch?cara do C?u Museum and stole four artworks. Among them was Matisse’s 1901 work “Luxembourg Gardens,” which was valued at up to 50 million dollars at the time.
Two men convicted of the theft were found to be involved in drug trafficking and claimed that the artworks had been taken to Europe. The whereabouts of the stolen pieces remain unknown, and they are reportedly listed in Interpol’s stolen art database.
Another major incident occurred in 2007, when three intruders took advantage of a security guard shift change at the S?o Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) to break in and steal Pablo Picasso’s 1904 “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” and Portinari’s 1934-1939 “Coffee Farm Workers” from the museum’s second floor. “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” was known to be the most valuable piece in MASP’s collection at the time, causing widespread shock.
This latest art theft occurred about two months after a theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Just the day before, protesters in London had smeared food on a royal crown display case, drawing global attention to security vulnerabilities in museums around the world.
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