Eight valuable paintings by Paul Cézanne were stolen from an exhibition at the Pavillon Vendôme in Aix-en-Provence during the night of August 12-13, 1961, in a daring heist that captivated the art world. The theft sent shockwaves through the art community and dominated newspaper headlines of the era before the paintings were recovered several months later.
The stolen masterpieces included some of Cézanne's most significant works from prestigious collections around the world. Among the pilfered artworks were "The Card Players," which was on loan from the Louvre Museum and is now housed in the Musée d'Orsay collection, "Pyramid of Skulls" from the Feichenfeldt collection in Zurich, and a "Still Life with Teapot" from the Cardiff Museum. These paintings represented some of the most valuable pieces in the major Cézanne exhibition being held at the historic venue.
The burglars demonstrated remarkable audacity and planning in executing their crime. They first scaled the perimeter wall of the Pavillon Vendôme grounds, then used the ground floor grilles as makeshift ladders to reach the first floor where the paintings were displayed. Once they gained access to the building's ledge, the thieves entered through a window and systematically removed the canvases from their frames.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the theft went completely undetected during the night despite security measures in place. The curator of the Pavillon, who was residing on the second floor of the building with her husband, heard nothing unusual during the break-in. Even more remarkably, a gendarme who was known to be armed with a submachine gun and stationed as security also failed to detect the intruders as they carried out their elaborate heist.
The theft represents the first installment in a series examining the most spectacular art thefts that have occurred in the Provence region over the decades. The case remains one of the most audacious art crimes in French history, demonstrating both the vulnerability of even well-guarded exhibitions and the lengths to which art thieves will go to acquire valuable masterpieces.
