The Robbery of the Century: Picasso, Mondrian and Caccia Paintings Stolen from Greece’s National Gallery

Three paintings, one by art master Pablo Picasso, another by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and a sketch by Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia (“Moncalvo”) were stolen from Greece’s National Gallery in downtown Athens in the early morning hours of Monday, in what Greek media describe as the “robbery of the century”. The worth of the three paintings is estimated to be some 5 million euro and the Greek police express the suspicion that the robbery was done ‘on order’.
Picasso’s “Woman’s Head“,  56×60 cm -oil on canvas, was painted in 1934 and donated to the National Gallery in 1949 by the artist himself in a joint action organized by French artists in order to honour the Greek resistance against the German occupied forces during the World War II. Its worth is estimated to be €2-3 million.


Picasso: Woman’s Head 
Mondrian‘s “The Mill“, 35×44 cm - oil on canvas, painted in 1905, is estimated to have worth of €1.5-2 million euro.
The third stolen piece of art was a sepia sketch by Guglielmo Caccia, also known as “Moncalvo”, titled ”Saint Diego de Alcala“, 27×16.8 cm.

”Authorities said the thief, or thieves, had knocked out the alarm system and forced open a balcony door at the back of the building, which is located across from one of Athens´ top hotels.
A guard told police that a burglar alarm went off shortly before 5:00 am and that he saw the silhouette of a person running away from the building.
He told police that he ran after the thief, who dropped another Mondrian oil painting, “Landscape”, depicting a farmhouse and painted around 1905, according to the gallery´s website.
The break-in lasted only around seven minutes.
The police added that the guard had been distracted earlier in the evening by alarms that were triggered at various entry points, but when he went to investigate he found no one in the gallery.” (AFP)

Greek police said that the thieves broke in to the building through a balcony door and that they knew exactly what paintings they wanted to steal and where they were located.
Local media report that the National Gallery, just opposite Hilton Hotel, was one of the best safeguarded buildings of Athens.
Police is investigating the robbery.
Speaking to news portal Zougla.gr,Manos Stefanidis, professor for History of Art at the Athens University, blamed the Ministry of Culture and the management of the National Gallery for “negligence in securing the priceless paintings” and expressed the suspicion that the thieves  must be members of an international gang with profound knowledge in arts issues.
Reuters reported that “Greece recovered in September a painting by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens stolen from a museum in Belgium in 2001 and arrested two Greeks who tried to sell it to undercover police for about one million euros ($1.3 million).”