Four Renoir paintings worth millions stolen in French museum heist

Four paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir have been stolen from a museum in the south of France.

Two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on Tuesday morning but dropped two of the paintings in the institution's garden as they made their escape, local Mayor Bryan Masson said.

The paintings, each worth €9m (£7.7m; $10.4m), are the latest high-profile pieces to have been stolen in a string of recent heists in Europe which have thrust the security of art in galleries and museums into the spotlight.

One of the most high-profile was in October last year, when a brazen heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris saw France's priceless crown jewels being stolen.

CCTV footage captured the thieves entering the Renoir museum gardens by cutting through a fence before they cut through structures holding the paintings' frames in place, the local mayor said.

The alarm went off at 05:48 (05:48 GMT), and police were at the scene within five minutes, Masson explained, saying the thieves fled the scene upon hearing the security alarms.

He later told reporters that the thieves seemed to be "well-equipped" and "well-informed".

They were "wearing helmets, gloves, and combat gear" and carrying "an electric knife and hacksaw," he added.

Investigators have found two zip-up bags at the scene, which may have belonged to the suspects.

The mayor said that two paintings were "abandoned" in the gardens and have now been recovered.

The two paintings that are still missing are:

• Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910)
• Jeune fille au puits (1886)

And the two pieces that were recovered are:

• Portrait of Madame Pichon (1895)
• Coco Lisant (1905)

"Attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer," the mayor told reporters at the museum.

"It's Renoir's, it is priceless, you cannot sell it like that," he said.

The Renoir Museum is home to 12 of the famous painter's artworks.

Opened in 1960, it was Renoir's last home before his death in 1919, and also features many things that once belonged to him, including his easel and wheelchair, as well as photographs and personal letters.

Last month, four Renaissance paintings being stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy.

"Beyond Cagnes-sur-Mer, this incident should serve as a warning about the protection of our museums, which now face a new form of organised crime targeting works of art," the local French mayor warned.

Masson called on the French government to provide more financial support to local areas and museums to protect artwork from "increasingly organised and determined criminals".