On February 16, 2018, French customs officers recovered Edgar Degas's Les Choristes in the luggage compartment of an intercity bus stopped near Ferrieres-en-Brie, east of Paris. The small 1877 pastel on monotype, owned by the French state and normally held by the Musee d'Orsay, had been stolen at the end of 2009 while on loan to the Musee Cantini in Marseille. Its subject, singers from Don Giovanni, is unusual within Degas's opera imagery because it focuses on vocal performers rather than dancers. The recovery was announced days later by French authorities; experts confirmed the work was authentic and relatively undamaged, making it a rare successful return of a high-profile stolen Impressionist work.
The recovery returned a nationally owned Degas to public collections after more than nine years missing.
