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Matisse Heist Recovered
Brazilian police recovered eight stolen works by French painter Henri Matisse on Thursday, months after armed men stole them from a library in São Paulo.
“The police in Brazil recovered eight stolen works by Henri Matisse on Thursday”
The prints belong to Matisse’s 1947 series called “Jazz,” and police tracked the pieces to an apartment in the suburb of São Bernardo do Campo, the São Paulo city government and the police said.
In the heist, the men overpowered a security guard and two bystanders, according to an emailed statement from Rodrigo Bezerra, a police spokesman.
The works were stolen in December from the Mário de Andrade Library, São Paulo’s largest, during public viewing hours, and police alerted Interpol because they were concerned the pieces might be smuggled out of the country.
Value, Arrest, and Details
Al Jazeera said Brazilian police found eight stolen art pieces by Henri Matisse valued at around $200,000, and reported that one person linked to the theft was arrested.
A News | Other item, citing authorities, said the prints were valued at more than 1 million Brazilian reais (about $200,000) and were discovered at a home in São Bernardo do Campo following a months-long investigation.
Police said the theft involved two armed men who entered the Mario de Andrade Library on Dec. 7, 2025, overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple who were visiting an exhibition, and escaped through the main entrance.
The New York Times reported that one person was arrested at the apartment on suspicion of receiving stolen goods, and that two other suspects in the library heist had been arrested in April in a separate art-theft case: a woman and a man described as the organizer of the crime.
Portinari Still Missing
While the eight Matisse works were recovered, multiple outlets said five works by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari were stolen in the same robbery but had not been recovered.
“The police said that they had yet to locate the Portinari pieces”
The New York Times said the police had yet to locate the Portinari pieces, and Al Jazeera’s account focused on the eight Matisse works found.
A News | Other said police suspect the Portinari works may have already been sold, and that investigators believe the man arrested Thursday had been storing the Matisse works for the suspected organizer of the robbery.
São Paulo’s municipal government said the recovered works had been formally returned to the library and would undergo conservation assessments before being reintegrated into its collection, and Municipal Culture Secretary Toto Parente said, "The recovery of these eight works is enormously important for Sao Paulo's culture and heritage."
