On January 31, 1976, thieves stole 118 paintings, drawings, and other works by Pablo Picasso from an exhibition at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Contemporary reports valued the theft in the millions of dollars and emphasized that the works came from a public exhibition rather than a private residence, exposing the vulnerability of high-profile modern-art loans outside purpose-built museum security systems. The stolen works remained missing for months, then were found in October in a truck left in front of a Marseille art gallery, leading to arrests. The case became one of the decade's major Picasso-related art thefts.
The Avignon theft underscored the security risks of traveling exhibitions of modern masterworks.
Artists involved
Where it happened Palais des Papes, Avignon
