French police foil art theft plot as two stolen Renoirs are recovered
French police have foiled a suspected plan to steal art from the Fondation Maeght in France, closing a frantic stretch for investigators in the south of the country. The report was published on 13 October 2026, just days after two stolen Renoirs were recovered and six people were arrested, according to ARTnews.
The two recovered works are paintings by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Police found them after they were taken from a museum in southern France, in a case that drew national attention in early October. Both pictures were later confirmed safe, according to CNN.
They have been identified as Portrait of Madame Pichon and Coco Reading. The titles were reported after local officials confirmed the recovery. The works are small-scale portraits, typical of the kind of personal, domestic subjects Renoir returned to through his career.
They were found dropped in the museum garden. That is where staff and investigators located them after the theft. The detail was reported by Al Jazeera.
The pair was valued at about US$10 million. The figure was reported as an approximate market value, not a sale price. No auction estimate or hammer price, the bid the auctioneer closes on before fees, has been published for either work, according to TODAY.
Six people were arrested in connection with the stolen-paintings case. The arrests were reported on 11 and 12 October, after the paintings were found. Police have not published full details of charges.
What makes this stand out is the speed of the turnaround. A theft, a garden recovery, six arrests and then a separate foiled plot, all within days. For visitors, this means extra security and closed doors in the short term, but the pictures themselves are back where staff can check and care for them.
