THEFT OF MATISSE WORKS IN SÃO PAULO SHAKES THE ART WORLD ONCE AGAIN
A series of recent events has placed cultural institutions under unusual scrutiny. Tension is high, and questions about security continue to mount without clear answers.
Brazilian police have identified and arrested one of the two suspects involved in the armed theft of eight Henri Matisse prints and five works by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari, stolen on Sunday from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo’s historic city center. The second suspect has also been identified and remains at large, according to local authorities.
The robbery took place in broad daylight, around 10:00 a.m., when two men entered the library during visiting hours. According to police reports and witness accounts, the thieves overpowered a security guard after showing a concealed weapon and then intimidated an elderly couple touring the exhibition hall. The perpetrators removed the pieces from a display case and placed them in a canvas bag before fleeing.
The works were part of the exhibition “From the Book to the Museum,” organized in collaboration with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art to celebrate the municipal library’s centennial. The show featured pieces by Matisse, Portinari, Fernand Léger, Hélio Oiticica, José Antonio da Silva and Lygia Pape. Among the missing Matisse prints are pages from Jazz, the iconic 1947 series composed of 20 pochoir collages based on the artist’s paper cutouts. A copy of the book sold at auction in 2021 for $774,000, though Brazilian officials emphasized that the stolen works carry “cultural, historical and artistic value” that cannot be measured solely in monetary terms.
The thieves exited through the main door into the bustling downtown streets, and according to CNN Brasil and AFP, part of their route was captured by the city’s Smart Sampa facial-recognition system. During their escape, they abandoned some pieces near a pile of trash, and the getaway van has already been located by investigators. The detained suspect, aged 31, has a criminal history involving robbery and drug trafficking.
The stolen works had previously been taken years earlier without the library noticing, and were recovered in 2015 after being found by Argentine authorities at the border. Their return to the collection had been considered a landmark case of cultural restitution.
The incident adds to a global wave of high-profile thefts from cultural institutions. In October, thieves stole nine jewelry pieces valued at over $100 million from the Louvre Museum, using a truck-mounted ladder to gain access. Days earlier, more than a thousand objects were stolen from the Oakland Museum of California. Experts cited in international media note that museums have become “relatively easy targets” for increasingly sophisticated criminal groups seeking items that can be dismantled or easily resold.
Brazilian authorities continue to investigate a case that has once again raised alarms over the security of cultural heritage in public and museum spaces worldwide.