Daring thieves have broken into museums, castles, and even personal homes throughout history to swindle artistic masterpieces. It doesn't happen often given how much art is out there, but when it does — and especially when the thieves get away with it — it makes global headlines. Unlike most robberies, art theft is typically more about obsession than it is making money — the thieves steal for their own personal collections.

The FBI estimates that $6 billion is lost annually around the globe to the theft, fraud, looting and trafficking of art and cultural property. Here, we take a look at some of the biggest cases by estimated value. Click ahead to see some of the world's biggest art heists.

By Elizabeth Rocklin
Posted 1 April, 2011

Estimated Value: $50 million
Artists: Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet
Location: Rio de Janeiro

During Rio’s annual Carnival celebration in  2006, thieves broke into the city’s Museu Chacara do Ceu and stole numerous art objects, including four masterpieces: “Dance” by Picasso, “Two Balconies” by Dali, “Luxembourg Garden” by Matisse, and “Marine” by Monet. None of the stolen pieces has been recovered.

Estimated Value: $56 million
Artists: Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil

Thieves using a crow bar and hydraulic jack to break into the Sao Paulo Museum of Art in December, 2007, stole Picasso’s “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” and Portinari’s “O Lavrador de Cafe.” They later called the museum’s president, demanding $5 million for the paintings’ return. No ransom was paid, but the paintings were found three weeks later in perfect condition.

Estimated Value: $70 million
Artist: Benvenuto Cellini
Location: Vienna, Austria

Robert Mang, who pulled off Austria's biggest art heist when he stole the famous 16th century gold-plated sculpture, La Saliera, in 2003, said he was drunk at the time he did it. Mang  buried the figurine in a forest outside Vienna, but ultimately turned himself in. He was sentenced to four years in prison for his self-described "spontaneous prank."

Estimated Value: $100 million
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Once home to masterpieces worth at least $403 million, this Scottish castle was robbed in broad daylight in 2003, when theives took da Vinci’s “Madonna of the Yarnwinder.”

The castle was home to one of Scotland’s richest landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch, who awaited the painting’s return for four years. He died just a few weeks before the recovery of the masterpiece. Calum Jones, Robert Graham, John Doyle, and Marshall Ronald were arrested and charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money in conjunction with this theft.

Estimated Value: $123 million
Artsts: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Fernand Leger, and Amedeo Modigliani
Location: Paris, France

In May 2010, a thief cut a padlock on a gate and broke a side window to get inside the Paris Museum of Modern Art, where he stole: “Le Pigeon aux Petit Pois” by Picasso, worth $28 million; “The Pastoral” by Matisse, worth $17.5 million; “Olive Tree Near Estaque” by Braque, “Still Life with Candlestick” by Leger, and “Woman with Fan” by Modigliani.

The museum had parts on order to fix an alarm system that had been broken for more than a month, so the breakin was not detected, but cameras did catch the thief’s action, though no arrest has been made.

Estimated Value: $125 million
Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
Location: Otterlo, Netherlands

In December, 1988, three well-known Van Gogh paintings “Potato Eaters,” “Weaver’s Interior,” and “Four Sunflowers Gone to Seed” were stolen.

By April of the following year, thieves returned Weaver’s Interior, hoping to score a $2.5 million ransom. Police dealings with the thieves were not discussed publicly, but it was reported that no ransom was paid. By July 1989, all three paintings had been returned with only minor damage.

Estimated Value: $141 million
Artist: Edvard Munch
Location: Oslo, Norway

In August 2004, with the museum open and in broad daylight, two thieves stormed past security guards and tourists taking two of Munch’s most famed paintings, “The Scream” and “Madonna.” Both pieces were ripped from the wall and went missing for two years.

The Munch Museum closed for nine months as they upgraded their security systems with metal detectors and baggage scanners, costing $6.4 million.

The Norway government listened in on more than 70,000 phone calls and the city of Oslo offered a $325,000 reward for assistance in the paintings’ recovery. Both were found in August 2006, and returned to the museum with minor damage. Six people were ultimately arrested for their roles in the theft.

Estimated Value: $163 million
Artists: Degas, Cezanne,Van Gogh and Monet
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Three robbers wearing ski masks walked into the E.G. Buhrle Collection in February 2008, and stole four paintings: “Boy With the Red Waistcoat” by Paul Cezanne, worth $91 million; “Count Lepic and His Daughters” by Edgar Degas; “Blossoming Chestnut Branches” by Vincent Van Gogh; and “Poppies near Vetheuil” by Claude Monet.

One robber held museum personnel at gunpoint as the others grabbed the paintings, threw them in their van and sped off.  Only two paintings, the Van Gogh and Monet were eventually found.

Estimated Value: More than $300 million
Artists: Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Govaert Flinck, Edgar Degas, and Edouard Manet
Location: Boston, Mass.

Often referred to as the world’s biggest art heist, this robbery is so notorious that security guard trainees are required to watch video footage of this heist.

In March, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers and entered the museum in the wee hours of the morning, telling museum security they were responding to a “call of disturbance.”

They proceeded to “arrest” the security personnel using duct tape and handcuffs. As a result, the internal alarm was not sounded, and the brazen thieves spent more than an hour in the museum, stealing 13 pieces of art, including: “The Concert” by Vermeer; three works by Rembrandt, including “A Lady and Gentleman in Black,” “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” and a “Self-Portrait”; “Landscape with Obelisk” by Flinck; “Chez Tortini” by Manet; and five drawings by Degas. None of the stolen pieces has been found.

Value: Priceless*
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: Musee de Louvre, Paris, France

Stolen in August 1911, the famous “Mona Lisa” went missing for two years. The Musee de Louvre closed for nine days while police dusted for fingerprints. Meanwhile, the French border was closed, and departing ships and trains were searched for the painting.

When the museum re-opened, thousands of people lined up to see the empty space on the wall. It turned out that former museum staffer Vinczo Peruggia had taken the painting and kept it in his closet for two years. He was finally caught trying to sell the painting and served only a few months in jail.

*Insured in 1962 at $100 million ($713 million today, adjusted for inflation)

Larry Salander is one of the biggest names in New York’s art world. But collectors see red when he swipes more than $100 million from their pockets!

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