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Italy Recovers Stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse Paintings

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Italian police have recovered three paintings by renowned French artists Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse, around five months after they were stolen from a museum near Parma. Italy’s Carabinieri cultural heritage protection unit said the artworks were found following a complex investigation, with further details expected to be released.

The paintings were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo during the night of March 22-23. Art experts estimated their combined value at more than €9 million ($10.4 million). The recovered works include Cezanne’s Cup and Plate of Cherries, Renoir’s The Fish and Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace.

Police also released footage showing two masked burglars entering the museum through a window, removing the three paintings from the walls and escaping in less than three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca houses a private collection featuring works by major artists including Titian, Goya, Tiepolo, Monet, Rubens and Morandi.

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Klimt Portrait Sells for $236 Million, Becomes Second Most Expensive Artwork at Auction

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A rare portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has sold for $236.4 million (£179m) at Sotheby’s in New York, becoming the second most expensive artwork ever auctioned. The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916, triggered a 20-minute bidding war among six buyers. Sotheby’s did not disclose the identity of the winning bidder.

The painting’s history is as dramatic as its price. It was looted by the Nazis, nearly destroyed in a World War Two fire, and later recovered in 1948. Returned to Lederer’s brother, Erich, it remained with the family until it was sold in 1983. The portrait, which shows Lederer in a white robe before a blue tapestry with Asian motifs, later entered the private collection of Estée Lauder heir Leonard A. Lauder in 1985, where it stayed until this week’s sale.

Tuesday’s auction far exceeded expectations, with Sotheby’s originally estimating a price of $150 million. Several other Klimt works from Lauder’s collection also sold for between $60m and $80m. The record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction remains Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450.3m in 2017. In a separate headline, a 101-kg functioning gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan sold for $12.1m during the same event.

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