Empty frames, cut alarms and case files that stayed open for decades. A few of these were solved; several never were.
1The Mona Lisa theftVincenzo Peruggia walked the painting out of the Louvre on 21 August 1911 and kept it for two years.
2Isabella Stewart Gardner heistTwo men in police uniforms took 13 works from the Boston museum on 18 March 1990; none have been recovered.
3The Ghent Altarpiece panelVan Eyck's Just Judges panel vanished in 1934 and has never been found.
4The Scream, Oslo 1994Thieves took Munch's painting from the National Gallery during the Lillehammer Olympics and left a thank-you note.
5The Scream, Munch Museum 2004Armed men seized The Scream and Madonna in daylight in front of visitors.
6The Louvre jewel heistThieves cut into the Galerie d'Apollon in October 2025 and were out in minutes with crown jewels.
7The Dresden Green Vault raidA 2019 break-in stripped Saxon royal jewels from one of Europe's oldest treasure chambers.
8The Kunsthal Rotterdam raidSeven paintings taken in 2012; a suspect's mother said she burned them in a stove.
9Van Gogh Museum burglaryTwo Van Goghs stolen in 2002 turned up in 2016 in a Naples farmhouse belonging to the Camorra.
10The theft of the Duke of WellingtonGoya's portrait vanished from the National Gallery in 1961 and later appeared in a James Bond film set.
11The Antwerp Diamond Centre jobA vault holding more than 100 million dollars in stones was emptied in 2003 without an alarm sounding.
12The Stockholm National Museum raidA 2000 armed robbery took a Rembrandt self-portrait and two Renoirs, with car bombs as a diversion.
Comments 1
Vincenzo Peruggia put on his old Louvre uniform, walked out with the panel on 21 August 1911, and was caught in Florence two years later: https://youpick.best/articles/leonardo-da-vinci-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamAug 21
