PARMA, Italy — Valuable paintings by artists Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from a museum in northern Italy last week, a theft that took only three minutes to execute, authorities said on Monday.
The thieves broke in through the front door of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, a private art museum near Parma, on the night of March 22, The New York Times reported.
Police said the robbers were able to steal three paintings -- “Les Poissons” (1917) by Renoir, “Still Life With Cherries” (1890) by Cézanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” (1922) by Matisse, the newspaper reported.
The three artworks together are worth approximately $10 million, according to Italian news media reports.
A spokesperson for the Carabinieri of Parma and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna told CNN that the thefts were originally kept quiet, hoping to catch the thieves if they returned.
A fourth piece of artwork was abandoned at the scene after the thieves were interrupted by the museum’s security system, the Italian news outlet La Repubblica reported.
According to Sky TG24, an Italian-language affiliate, the theft was “part of a structured and organized operation.” It appeared to have been well planned, the Times reported.
Luigi Magnani, who died in 1984, was an art critic, musicologist and writer. His estate was opened to the public in 1990, CNN reported.
The Magnani-Rocca Foundation is named for the Magnani’s parents. He established the museum collection during the 1970s, according to the Times.
The museum holds an array of classical and contemporary art, including works by Gentile da Fabriano, Francisco Goya and Vittore Carpaccio, the newspaper reported.
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