巴黎5幅名画深夜被盗 总价达5亿欧元

源济

法广新闻网    2010-05-20 16:45:35

毕加索 《鸽子与青豆》

莫迪里阿尼《执扇子的女人》

巴黎市所属现代艺术博物馆收藏的五幅油画大师们的画作于星期三到星期四夜间被盗。巴黎市政府估计，这五幅画的总价值达1亿欧元。警方指出，这次偷盗是经过精心策划的。

而在此之前，接近司法和调查人员的消息来源则表示，这5幅画的总价值达5亿欧元。巴黎市长德拉诺爱表示，巴黎市现代艺术博物馆的警报系统自3月30日以来就部分失灵，但是，失灵的警报系统，并没有得到任何的修复。巴黎市长表示，此次的 油画失窃事件是对巴黎文化遗产的不可原谅的伤害，他对此 感到特别的难过。

失窃的5幅油画，分别出自毕加索、马蒂斯、布拉克、莱热以及莫迪利亚尼之手，有毕加索的《鸽子与豌豆》，马蒂斯的《田园曲》、莫迪利亚尼的《持扇的女人》，布拉克的《爱斯达克附近的橄榄树》以及莱热的《静物蜡烛》。

5幅油画被盗窃，是于星期三到星期四的夜间发生的，具体被发现的时间是星期四早晨6点50分。博物馆的馆员发现窗户被打破，门锁被撬开，博物馆的监控录像显示，有一个人从窗户进入了博物馆。

源济

http://www.latimes.com/news/nati ... 521,0,6243254.story

Thief makes off with $100 million in art from Paris museum

The five works stolen from the Museum of Modern Art include a Picasso and a Matisse. Paris officials say part of the museum alarm system had been broken since March 30.
By Devorah Lauter and Jori Finkel, Los Angeles Times

5:32 PM PDT, May 20, 2010

Reporting from Paris and Los Angeles

A broken alarm system. A sawed-off padlock, security video of a masked figure dressed in black slipping through a broken window. And empty picture frames leaning against a short stone wall facing the Seine.

As dawn broke Thursday, authorities in the French capital had egg on their faces and a high-profile mystery on their hands: How did a thief slip into Paris' Art Deco-style Museum of Modern Art, across from the Eiffel Tower, avoid the three guards on duty and slip out with five paintings worth at least $100 million, among them works by Picasso and Matisse?

Those coming to grips with the loss said they were impressed by the feat.

"We're dealing with an extreme level of sophistication," said Christophe Girard, who is responsible for the French capital's cultural affairs department.

Others in the art world were focused less on the thief's skill than on what they regard as malfeasance by museum management. Paris officials revealed that part of the museum alarm system had been broken since March 30.

"The director of the museum should be fired right away," said Ton Cremers, a museum security consultant and former head of security at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. "It's unthinkable that your security system not be fully working for two months. It's like inviting the thieves in."

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said in a statement that about $19 million was spent on a security upgrade from 2004 to 2006. When the alarm system broke, a maintenance company was notified immediately, but the new equipment never arrived.

"I'm particularly saddened and shocked by this theft," Delanoe said.

The mayor said he wanted an administrative investigation of the crime, in addition to detective work by a special police brigade.

Girard said the theft appeared to have taken place between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. However, it wasn't discovered until just before 7 a.m. Thursday. News reports said security video revealed a lone figure sneaking in through a window. Officials are still trying to figure out whether accomplices were involved.

The missing paintings include Pablo Picasso's 1912 work "Pigeon With Peas," Henri Matisse's 1905 "Pastoral," Amedeo Modigliani's "Woman With a Fan" from 1919, Georges Braque's 1906 "The Olive Tree Near l'Estaque," and Fernand Leger's 1922 "Still Life With Candlesticks."

The value of the Picasso painting, a classic Cubist experiment with geometric forms, is estimated at about $28.5 million.

Interpol, the international police organization based in Lyon, France, was informed of the theft Thursday morning and immediately sent images of the stolen works to police headquarters in nearly 200 countries.

Thursday night, after the TV cameras had left, a few skateboarders were back, practicing jumps on what everyone calls "the dome," a U-shaped stone square between the Museum of Modern Art and the adjacent Tokyo Palace contemporary art museum.

"It doesn't shock me that they got in there," said skateboarder Kevin Keubeuze, 16, a regular at the site. "It's not a place that's super watched-over."

On many nights, people bring beers and might practice juggling or circus acts, he said. From "the dome," they can look at paintings inside the Museum of Modern Art through large windows.

Questions about the level of museum security previously were raised by the French media. A Picasso sketchbook was stolen in June from the Picasso Museum in Paris, and an Edgar Degas pastel was stripped from the Cantini Museum in Marseille in December.

Stephane Thefo, an Interpol officer with the unit specializing in stolen art, defended those responsible for museum security in Paris.

"They are serious people, who work well … but after all, in France like elsewhere, zero risk doesn't exist," Thefo said. "Even if you have good protection, there can still be a theft."

Chances are good that the art will be recovered, experts said. "The more famous an art piece, the harder it is to sell. We've found a lot of paintings that were very well known works of art," he said.

"There could be a demand for ransom from the insurer," he said. Or the thieves may not be able to get rid of their booty and simply leave the works somewhere.

That all might take awhile to play out. Cremers said about half the paintings stolen from museums are recovered, but it takes an average of seven years. The thieves in such cases, he said, "are usually ordinary criminals who also steal cars" and "have no idea what to do with the art."

Experts say it is highly unlikely that the heist was a theft-for-hire organized by a wealthy collector.

Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr, president of the Tokyo Palace museum, told LCI French television just outside the cordoned-off museum that "no collector in the world is stupid enough to put his money in a painting he can neither show to other collectors nor resell without going to prison."

"So Messieurs les Thieves, you are imbeciles!" he said. "Bring back the paintings, please."

jori.finkel@latimes.com

Lauter is a special correspondent.