Renoir painting stolen from auction house in Vienna
November 28, 2018
Austrian police are on the lookout for three suspects after a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir valued at up to €160,000 ($180,600) was stolen from a Vienna auction house during opening hours.
On display ahead of a planned sale at the Dorotheum auction house, "Golfe, Mer, Falaises Vertes," a landscape painted by the French impressionist in 1895, was removed from its frame on Monday evening, according to police.
"The men left the site through different exits and fled," Vienna police said in a statement. They released security-camera footage of the suspects, adding it was evident they were professionals.
The Dorotheum, Vienna's best-known auction house, confirmed a theft had taken place but gave no further details.
The painting was due to go under the hammer on Wednesday evening along with around 250 other works.
db/eg (Reuters, AP, dpa)