playing card F3: Camille Corot: Le Chemin de Sèvres (1865)
April 15, 2020
playing card D4: Goya: Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (1814)
April 15, 2020
Claude Monet: Impression, Sunrise (1872)
completed
stolen
longest side (cm)
est. value ($ mill.)
Claude Monet, co-founder of Impressionism
The painting “Impression, Sunrise” by Claude Monet (French impression, soleil levant) was completed in 1872. The work of art sets the style for Impressionism. It was stolen from the Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris in 1985 by Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun. The museum has been in the possession of the museum again five years later and has been exhibited again since 1991. The value of the artwork is at least 11 million euros. Monet's pioneering work of art for Impressionism has the dimensions 63 x 48cm.
Description of the oil painting “Impression, Sunrise” by Claude Monet
The artwork “Impression, Sunrise” shows the port in Le Havre in France. In the foreground you can see some boats on the water, in the middle ground larger ships and industrial buildings. The sun rises in the background. The painting is dominated by rough brushstrokes and light colors. Only the two boats in the foreground and the sun with its reflections on the water are shown in strong, intense colors. Overall, the painting looks gray and washed out.
Claude Monet's painting “Impression, Sunrise” was completed in 1872. It sets the style for Impressionism and was stolen from the Museum Marmottan Monet in Paris in 1985. It reappeared in 1990.
The art theft of “Impression, Sunrise” by Claude Monet
On October 28, 1985, at least five armed masked men penetrate the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris in broad daylight. A masked man ordered the head of the security service and all visitors to lie on the floor. The other masked people went through the rooms of the museum and stole nine paintings from the collection, including Monet's “Impression, Sunrise”.
The other paintings included other paintings by Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir's “Bathers Sitting on a Rock” and “Portrait of Monet”, Berthe Morisot's “Young Lady on the Ball” and Naruse's “Portrait of Monet ”. A former employee of the Musée Marmottan testified that the thieves must be art connoisseurs based on the stolen works of art selected. At the time, all of the works of art were worth a total of at least $ 12.5 million.
The stolen paintings reappear in 1990
A tip to the police leads to the arrest of Yakuza gangster Shuinichi Fujikuma, who had spent several years in a French prison. He was connected to criminals from the art milieu. They planned the raid on the museum in Paris. A museum catalog with circled pictures of the paintings, which were later stolen, was found in Fujikuma's house. In 1990 the paintings were found in Corsica.
German related links
- Evening Independent, 28.10.1985: Connoisseur bandits make off with works by Monet, Renoir
- Los Angeles Times, 28.10.1985: Maskierte üben ‘Kunstraub des Jahrhunderts’ aus
- New York Times, 07.12.1990: Neun Gemälde aus dem Impressionismus auf Korsika wieder aufgetaucht
- Monets Gemäldesammlung im Musée Marmottan in Paris
- Die Welt, 10.03.2015: Monet hat nichts zu sagen - und das ist schön so