8 Matisse artworks stolen from library in São Paulo, Brazilian officers say

The work of famed French artist Henri Matisse was amongst 13 items of artwork stolen from a public library in Brazil over the weekend, native authorities stated.

Two armed thieves entered the Mário de Andrade Library in downtown São Paulo on Sunday and reportedly held up a safety guard and an aged couple who had been visiting the library, CBS Information’ associate community BBC Information reported. One of many suspects has been arrested, officers stated Monday.

Eight artworks by Matisse had been taken within the heist, in addition to 5 items by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.

Authorities haven’t disclosed the titles or the worth of Matisse’s stolen items, however the 5 engravings by Portinari had been illustrations from the 1959 e-book “Menino de Engenho” (“Plantation Boy”), in keeping with São Paulo metropolis corridor. It wasn’t instantly clear if any of the stolen works had been recovered with the arrest of a suspect.

The artworks had been a part of a joint exhibit with the São Paulo Museum of Fashionable Artwork that highlighted uncommon books and the way modernism took form in Brazil. The exhibit opened in October and its remaining day was on Sunday, in keeping with the library’s web site.

Works by Matisse, a towering determine of Twentieth-century trendy artwork, can promote for hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. A collection of round 60 of his drawings offered for greater than $2.5 million at public sale home Christie’s in October, in keeping with specialty web site artnet.

The document value for a Matisse was $80.8 million in 2018 for his “Odalisque couchée aux magnolias.”

Police stated investigators had been capable of determine one of many two suspects, the BBC reported. That suspect was later arrested on Monday, officers stated.

The person was apprehended in central São Paolo after being “recognized following investigative work and evaluation of safety cameras that recorded the legal act on Sunday,” the federal government of the Brazilian state stated in a press release.   

Earlier on Monday, police stated that they had discovered the robbers’ getaway automotive. São Paulo’s safety division additionally stated investigations had been ongoing to determine the second suspect.

Brazilian information web site G1 aired a video apparently exhibiting one of many thieves carrying a number of of the artworks via the road in broad daylight, then leaving them propped in opposition to a wall subsequent to a pile of trash and working away.

The artwork heist comes almost two months after a bunch of thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris, stealing jewellery valued at round $100 million inside a matter of minutes.

The high-profile break-in renewed concentrate on safety protocols at museums around the globe.