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Over hundreds years ago, one of the most scandalous art thefts in history took place: the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was stolen from the Louvre Museum, Paris. A year before the theft, the then director of Louvre, Theophile Homolle, had stated that it was almost impossible to steal this piece of art.
Sixty professional investigators struggled to find evidence. They discovered only a finger print that was of no use. Only two years later the thief was arrested. Former Louvre worker Vincenzo Peruggia tried to sell the masterpiece to an art gallery owner in Italy. During interrogation, Peruggia claimed he wanted to return the painting to its homeland "after it was stolen by Napoleon".
According to the thief, it was rather easy to steal the Mona Lisa. He took if off the wall, removed the frame and left the museum with the painting wrapped in his smock.
One of the most large-scale art thefts of the 20th century was a heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. The crime was committed by two men disguised as police officers on March 18, 1990.
The robbers took 13 paintings, including those of Degas, Manet, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, for the total sum of around $300 million. None of these pieces of art have been found.
Another scandalous art heist took place in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam in 1991. Twenty paintings, including Van Gogh's early painting 'The Potato Eaters' and 'A Wheat Field, with Cypresses' (pictured), were stolen.
It turned out that the museum was poorly secured. Robbers had an hour to choose what they want and then they left in a car that belonged to the museum. The value of the stolen paintings totaled $200 million.
In 2002, the Van Gogh Museum suffered another theft. This time thieves entered the building through the roof and stole two paintings: 'Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen' and 'View of the Sea at Scheveningen'. Their value amounted to $10-$20 million.
On August 27, 2003, the Buccleuch Madonna was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle. Two thieves disguised as tourists said "Don't worry love, we're the police. This is just practice" to a couple of real tourists who saw them exiting through a window. The painting that was worth $90 million was found in 2007 in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 2004, Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, was robbed by two armed men. The criminals stole two famous paintings: 'The Scream' and 'Madonna'. The paintings estimated at $75 million were recovered by the police in 2006.
In 1993, several Picasso paintings of the total value of $60 million were stolen from Stockholm's Modern Museum.
Two paintings of J.M.W. Turner, 'Light and Color' (pictured) and 'Shade and Darkness', were stolen from the Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt in 1994. In 1995 the police arrested the thieves, but they did not say where the paintings were hidden. In 2000, after one of the convicts was murdered, 'Shade and Darkness' was returned to the Tate Gallery in London, on loan from which both paintings were. In 2002, the Tate Gallery paid $7 million for the second painting to the German side. The money were paid to unknown men aware of the painting's location.