The Largest Art Theft in History: an Ongoing Investigation

In the hours before dawn on March 18th, 1990, thirteen works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s collection were stolen — and not a single piece has been recovered despite the $10 million reward for their return. This article will discuss the various theories regarding the most infamous art heist in the world, as well as the impact it had on the art community. To fully understand how stealing half a billion dollars’ worth of art is possible, let’s take a look at the known details of what transpired on the night of the largest art theft in history.

Just after midnight on March 18th, 1990, two men dressed as police officers buzzed the door of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum without difficulty. When questioned by the security guards who were on duty inside the museum, the officers stated that they were responding to a disturbance. Once let in, the two security guards were handcuffed and tied up in the basement, remaining there until the real police arrived the next morning. Eighty-one minutes later, the two thieves walked out with thirteen various art pieces totaling to an estimated $500 million dollars today. The stolen art consisted of: three Rembrandt paintings; five Degas paintings; a Chinese gu (which is a vase-like ritual vessel); a Napoleon eagle finial; and three more paintings by artists Flinck, Manet, and Vermeer. Despite ongoing attempts by the Museum, FBI, and US Attorney’s office to track down the stolen works, none have been successful, and both the thieves and the location of the art remain unknown more than three decades after the heist. The fact that not a single artwork has popped up in either underground or official art trades has led many to believe that they secretly reside in someone’s — most likely a millionaire’s — home. Although this may be true, in order to best hypothesize about their possible location, it is important to understand why this art heist was so extraordinary.

Firstly, one would assume that these works were stolen with the intention of reselling them to make a profit or using them as a bargaining chip. However, the thieves did not steal the most valuable art in the museum, one of which was the Renaissance painting titled “The Rape of Europa” by Titian (now estimated to be worth over $25 million). Why would they leave some of the most expensive paintings instead of stealing artifacts of greater value? A few theories exist as to why this could be. It could be due to the art’s size. For instance, “The Rape of Europa” measures 6×7 feet, which is not exactly an easy size to carry and load onto a van while remaining as inconspicuous as possible. Others speculate that the mastermind behind the robbery simply liked those specific paintings and their styles, and that there was no deeper meaning to it. Another strange occurrence involves a self-portrait of Rembrandt that was left leaning against a cabinet undamaged. Instantly, people assumed it was because the painting has a heavy oak frame; but one of the stolen paintings with similar dimensions also had an oak frame, so it was most likely not left behind due to its weight. The popular theory is that the thieves simply forgot about it. Finally, another odd finding consists of the stolen Manet painting’s frame that was taken from the Blue Room it was stolen from and placed on a chair in the downstairs security office. In addition to the fact that no motion detectors were set off in the Blue Room (which implies that this was definitely an inside job), the Manet frame’s intentional placement seems to be an insult toward the Museum’s faulty security. These thieves clearly had no hesitations when considering the morality of committing this crime; on the contrary, the facts point to the exact opposite. The two criminals slashed the canvases from their frames, leaving behind the gruesome remains of the missing paintings. Whether they did this because the frames were too heavy and bulky or because they wanted to leave behind fragments of the stolen art as a sick reminder of their disappearance, we’ll never know.

The Museum’s response to the heist is as influential as they come. Instead of throwing out or giving away the empty frames, they decided to hang them back up in the same exact places they were before the theft. On the Museum’s website, they even have an entire page dedicated to the theft and include photos of the stolen art in hopes someone will recognize them. By taking advantage of the unique history that this event provided the Museum with, visitors come from all over the world to see the infamous empty frames that are still on display to this day. They serve as a reminder that art can never be recreated with the same impactful meaning as the original did. The thirteen works of art reflected the culture, problems, beauty, and reality that existed in the time during which they were created, and viewers today would have been able to gain a glimpse into those past lives if they were still on display in the Museum. Although their disappearance is extremely sorrowful for the art community, the fact that the frames have never been removed gives some semblance of hope that these invaluable artworks will someday be returned to the Museum.