Police retrieve stolen Matisse artworks from São Paulo library


Eight illustrations by French artist Henri Matisse, taken from the Biblioteca Mario de Andrade in December, were recovered by police last Thursday after a raid in Sao Bernardo do Campo.


Police said the pieces—estimated at $200,000—were found in a home with a 44‑year‑old man arrested on the scene. Three other suspects were previously charged with the robbery.


The heist cut across a joint exhibition relating to a limited‑edition art book and a special edition of a Brazilian novel. While the Matisse works have been restored to the library, five engravings by Candido Portinari remain missing.


Matisse illustrations

(Secretariat of Public Security of the State of São Paulo)


Authorities have tightened security at the library and are still searching for the missing Portinari engravings, believed to have been sold. The recovery comes a month after a similar theft of Renoir and Cézanne paintings in Italy.