Lost & Found

From Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Johannes Vermeer's The Concert, it probably comes as no surprise that some of the world's most famous works of art have been targeted by thieves. In fact, art heists happen far more often than you might think, with the Louvre jewelry heist being the latest case. And while some of these stolen masterpieces have been successfully recovered, others weren't so lucky. Here are 10 that were only briefly taken by greedy hands—and 10 that have been lost to time.

Leonardo da Vinci on Wikimedia

1. Mona Lisa (1503)

This world-famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci vanished from the Louvre in 1911,  prompting a wide search and a week-long closure of the museum to aid the investigation. It wasn't until two years later, in 1913, that it was recovered and restored, and its absence only made the artwork all the more renowned. The main culprit behind the heist? A former employee of the Louvre, Vincenzo Peruggia, who had taken it from Paris and hid it in his hotel room in Florence, Italy. 

Leonardo da Vinci / Wilfredo Rafael Rodriguez Hernandez on Wikimedia

2. The Scream (1893)

Edvard Munch's The Scream is another masterpiece that many recognize. But what most don't know is that this painting was stolen twice in Oslo: once from the National Gallery and once from the Munch Museum. The first attempt—which took just two men and 50 seconds—was recovered the same year, 1994. In the second, a different version had been taken along with another painting; both were restored in 2006, two years after they'd been taken.

Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italia on Wikimedia

3. The Boy in the Red Vest (1888-90)

Painted by Paul Cézanne, The Boy in the Red Vest was stolen from a museum in Zurich along with three other pieces—works by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Edgar Degas—in 2008. Cézanne's masterpiece was the museum's most valuable artwork. While Monet's and van Gogh's were recovered shortly after, it wasn't until 2012 that Cézanne's piece was recovered.

Paul Cézanne on Wikimedia

4. The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (1432)

The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also known as the Ghent Altarpiece or the Mystic Lamb, is the world's most stolen work of art. It was created by Hubert and Jan van Eyck in 1432, coveted by leaders such as Napoleon and Hitler, considered "the first major oil painting" and the most important artwork ever made—and has been reportedly taken seven times. Despite repeated restoration, panels of the masterpiece remain frequent targets of theft and looting, with some still missing.

Jan van Eyck on Wikimedia

5. Summer's Day (1879)

Summer's Day is an oil painting by French Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot, and depicts two women on a rowboat in Bois de Boulogne, a popular public park in Paris. It was originally displayed in the Tate Gallery in London, and was stolen by two Irish students in 1956. It was later returned anonymously, placed at the Irish Embassy, and now can be seen in the National Gallery in London.

Berthe Morisot on Wikimedia

6. The Guitar Player (1609)

The Guitar Player wasn't the only painting of Johannes Vermeer that had been looted before; in fact, many of Vermeer's pieces were targets of theft, some of which have yet to be recovered. Luckily, The Guitar Player was restored the same year it'd been taken, in 1974. It was stolen from the Kenwood House in London, then later returned after being held for ransom.

Johannes Vermeer on Wikimedia

7. The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884)

Vincent van Gogh's The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, just weeks after the museum closed due to lockdown. While a suspect was arrested a year later, the artwork was still missing, and it wasn't until September 2023 that it was finally returned—wrapped in a pillowcase and an IKEA bag.

Vincent van Gogh on Wikimedia

8. Child with a Soap Bubble (17th-18th Century)

Child with a Soap Bubble was just one of many Rembrandt paintings that thieves have targeted for decades; it was taken from the Municipal Museum of Draguignan in 1999 during a military parade on Bastille Day. Fifteen years after it was taken, it was turned over to the police in Nice, France.

Rembrandt on Wikimedia

9. Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (1812-14)

This portrait, painted by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, depicts Arthur Wellesley, a British general who was a leading politician in the early 19th century and served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice. Nineteen days after it was first displayed at the National Gallery in London, on August 21, 1961, it was stolen by a bus driver in protest against the cost of the television license. He returned it voluntarily four years later, though he was found guilty of not returning the frame the painting had been in, and was sentenced to jail for three months.

Francisco Goya on Wikimedia

10. Saint Jerome Writing (1607-08)

Saint Jerome Writing is an oil painting by Italian artist Caravaggio, which is housed in the oratory of St. John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, Malta. It was cut out of its frame in 1984, though two years later, after lengthy negotiations with the thieves, it was recovered, albeit with some damage that needed restoration.

Some other paintings, however, weren't so lucky. Let's jump next into 10 famous works that were never recovered:

Caravaggio on Wikimedia

1. The Concert (1664)

On March 18, 1990, the largest art theft in the world happened in Boston, Massachusetts, and The Concert by Johannes Vermeer was one of the 13 pieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It remains missing to this day, and is considered the world's most valuable stolen painting, with a reward of $10 million being offered for its recovery.

Johannes Vermeer on Wikimedia

2. The Just Judges (1432)

Some panels of the Ghent Masterpiece might have been recovered, but others weren't so lucky. The Just Judges, for one, has remained mysteriously missing ever since it was first stolen in the spring of 1934. Later that same year in November, the self-proclaimed thief, Arsène Goedertier, revealed that he was the only one who knew where it was hidden, and he'd take the secret to his grave.

Jan van Eyck / Presumably Hubert van Eyck on Wikimedia

3. View of Auvers-sur-Oise (1879–80)

On the New Year's Eve of 1999, Paul Cézanne's View of Auvers-sur-Oise was taken during the fireworks celebration. Police suspect that a smoke bomb was used to further deter the crowd as the thief—or thieves—snatched the landscape painting. It has yet to be recovered or found.

Paul Cézanne on Wikimedia

4. Poppy Flowers (1887)

Poppy Flowers was one of many famous artworks painted by Vincent van Gogh, and is believed to have been completed three years before his death. It has been stolen from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo, Egypt twice: once in 1977, when it was recovered after a decade, and the second time in 2010, when it was never returned.

Vincent van Gogh on Wikimedia

5. The Pigeon with Green Peas (1911)

This 1911 painting by Pablo Picasso was one of five works that were taken from Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010. Unfortunately, the piece has never been recovered, as one of the thief's accomplices claims to have destroyed it.

Unknown author on Wikimedia

6. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)

This Rembrandt painting is one of the most important and notable works by the artist, depicting Christ and his disciples during a turbulent storm. It had been displayed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston until it was stolen during the 1990 theft. To this day, it remains missing and unrecovered.

Rembrandt on Wikimedia

7. Landscape with Obelisk (1638)

Also stolen during the theft of 1990 in Boston was an oil on wood artwork by Dutch artist Govert Flinck. It was originally attributed to Rembrandt, which may have been the reason it was targeted. Yet, it—along with all the other pieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on that fateful day—has never been returned.

Govaert Flinck (1615-1660) on Wikimedia

8. Still Life with Candlestick (1922)

An oil painting by Fernand Léger, Still Life with Candlestick is another piece that was stolen along with Picasso's The Pigeon with Green Peas from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010. It, too, has never been recovered, as one of the thief's accomplices claims to have destroyed it.

Carl Van Vechten on Wikimedia

9. Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence (1609)

A painting of the birth of Jesus by Caravaggio, Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence was originally completed in Syracuse in 1609 and later transferred to Palermo. It was stolen in 1969 from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence and has been missing ever since. In 2015, a replica was commissioned, and that copy is now the version that hangs above the altar.

Caravaggio on Wikimedia

10. Landscape with Cottages 

Landscape with Cottages is a rare painting by Rembrandt, which had previously been displayed in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada, before it was stolen in 1972 by armed robbers. Along with it, 17 other pieces were taken, in addition to jewelry and figurines.

Rembrandt on Wikimedia