Brazilian police recover eight Matisse engravings worth US$200,000 stolen from a Sao Paulo library in 2025; suspect arrested in art theft case.
SAO PAULO: Police in Brazil have recovered eight engravings by French artist Henri Matisse that were stolen from a Sao Paulo library last year by an organized gang of thieves, officials said on Thursday.
Vividly colored artwork from Matisse’s limited-edition art book “Jazz” were laid out on a table alongside a handgun, in an image released by police.
The works, estimated to be worth $200,000, were found at a home in the town of Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo.
Officers arrested a man who was keeping the works for the mastermind of the heist, police said, adding that he will face charges of receiving stolen goods and illegal weapon possession.
The alleged mastermind was apprehended in April and a woman has also been arrested in the case.
Police said the gang behind the robbery was highly organized and structured, with specific tasks assigned to members as it stole artworks in Brazil and sold them on the black market.
In the Matisse robbery last year, police say thieves overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple visiting the Mario de Andrade Library, grabbed the engravings and other items from a glass dome where they were kept, and fled.
They also stole five works by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, but these have not been recovered and may have already been sold.
One of the suspects was arrested the day after the theft via the use of the city’s facial recognition system.
As part of the investigation, police conducted operations targeting “establishments related to the auction market and the sale of artworks” in municipalities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The Matisse engravings were part of a modern art exhibition highlighting a collaboration between the library and the Museum of Modern Art of Sao Paulo.
“Jazz” was published in France in 1947 and there are 250 copies signed by the artist, according to auction house Christie’s.
