PARIS, May 20 (Reuters) - Art thieves stole paintings by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and two other well-known artists from a Paris museum in a heist worth 100 million euros ($124.2 million).
Officials from the Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris said they discovered the five paintings, which included works by Fernand Leger and Georges Braque, were missing after noticing a smashed window pane as they opened for business on Thursday.
"This is a serious crime to the heritage of humanity," said Christophe Girard, culture deputy for the mayor of Paris.
Girard said the theft was committed by "one or more individuals who were obviously organised."
Museum officials said the paintings were worth about 100 million euros in total, revising an earlier figure of 500 million euros released by the police and public prosecutors.
The theft is the latest in Paris after robbers stole 32 drawings at the Picasso Museum worth 8 million euros last June and raises questions as to what could be done with the works.
Robert Read, head of art and private clients at specialist insurer Hiscox in London said private buyers were unlikely to have ordered the robbery as art was acquired to be exhibited.
"It’s more likely to be criminals trying to exhort money out of the museum, state or who trade it in the underworld for drugs or weapons," he said.
The stolen works were Picasso’s "Dove with Green Peas", Matisse’s "Pastorale", Braque’s "Olive tree near l’Estaque", Modigliani’s "Woman on the range" and Leger’s "Still life with candlesticks".
Picasso’s Dove — a painting dating from the Spanish master’s Cubist period — itself is worth 22 million euros.
Picasso’s 1932 portrait of his lover Marie-Therese Walter, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," sold on May 5 for $106.5 million, becoming the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
"Whether 100 million or 500 million it’s a huge amount," said Read. "It’s as big as you get when it comes to theft. It’s the Premier League of thefts."
A special unit of the interior ministry, the BRB, is in charge of the investigation and took the frames of the paintings with them for further analysis.
Read added that more often than not stolen paintings are recovered. Edvard Munch’s The Scream was returned in 2006 two years after gunmen stole it from the Munch Museum in Norway.
SECURITY SYSTEM FAILINGS?
Museum employees found a window had been broken at the rear of the east wing of the "Palais de Tokyo" built during the Universal Exhibition of 1937.
The museum has sophisticated alarm systems, close circuit television and three guards were on hand on Wednesday night. Local television said the alarm system had not been triggered.
"We must let the police find out how the security system was evaded especially as these three watchmen saw nothing and did not react," Girard said.
Paris’ Musee d’Art Moderne is situated in the capital’s well-to-do 16th arrondissement, across the Seine river from the Eiffel Tower.
A single sheet of white paper was left on the double doors informing visitors that the museum would remain closed on Thursday "for technical reasons".
"It’s Pink Panther material in the centre of Paris with huge media interest," said Elliot Macdonald, curator of the art collection at Hiscox.
