Arya News - One of two suspects has been arrested in the theft of eight artworks by Matisse, as well as five pieces by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
The work of famed French artist Henri Matisse was among 13 pieces of art stolen from a public library in Brazil over the weekend, local authorities said.
Two armed thieves entered the Mário de Andrade Library in downtown São Paulo on Sunday and reportedly held up a security guard and an elderly couple who were visiting the library, CBS News" partner network BBC News reported. One of the suspects has been arrested, officials said Monday.
Eight artworks by Matisse were taken in the heist, as well as five pieces by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
Authorities have not disclosed the titles or the value of Matisse"s stolen pieces, but the five engravings by Portinari were illustrations from the 1959 book "Menino de Engenho" ("Plantation Boy"), according to São Paulo city hall. It wasn"t immediately clear if any of the stolen works were recovered with the arrest of a suspect.
The artworks were part of a joint exhibit with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art that highlighted rare books and how modernism took shape in Brazil. The exhibit opened in October and its final day was on Sunday, according to the library"s website.
A Brazilian police patrol stands in front of the Mario de Andrade Public Library from where several engravings were stolen in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on December 7, 2025. Eight engravings by French artist Henri Matisse and five by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari -part of an exhibition on the modernist movement - were stolen from the library, the Brazilian city"s government reported. / Credit: Nelson ALMEIDA /AFP via Getty Images
Works by Matisse, a towering figure of 20th-century modern art, can sell for millions of dollars. A series of around 60 of his drawings sold for more than $2.5 million at auction house Christie"s in October, according to specialty site artnet.
The record price for a Matisse was $80.8 million in 2018 for his " Odalisque couchée aux magnolias ."
Police said investigators were able to identify one of the two suspects, the BBC reported. That suspect was later arrested on Monday, officials said.
The man was apprehended in central São Paolo after being "identified following investigative work and analysis of security cameras that recorded the criminal act on Sunday," the government of the Brazilian state said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, police said they had found the robbers" getaway car. São Paulo"s security department also said investigations were ongoing to identify the second suspect.
Brazilian news site G1 aired a video apparently showing one of the thieves carrying several of the artworks through the street in broad daylight, then leaving them propped against a wall next to a pile of trash and running away.
The art heist comes nearly two months after a group of thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris , stealing jewelry valued at around $100 million within a matter of minutes.
The high-profile break-in renewed focus on security protocols at museums around the world.
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