Eight works by Henri Matisse that have been stolen throughout an armed theft on the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo final December have been recovered by the state’s civil police. The works, from Matisse’s celebrated 1947 e-book Jazz, have already been returned to the library. However the restoration is simply partial: 5 works by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari taken in the identical heist stay lacking, and police suspect they might have already got been offered, the São Paulo State Public Safety Secretariat stated in an announcement to The Artwork Newspaper.
Police discovered the works on 13 August in an condo in São Bernardo do Campo, a part of the São Paulo metropolitan space. A person there was arrested on suspicion of storing them for the alleged mastermind behind the theft. Police additionally discovered a firearm on the condo. The eight works are valued at greater than $190,000.
The theft came about on 7 December 2025, the ultimate day of the momentary exhibition Do livro ao museu: MAM São Paulo e a Biblioteca Mário de Andrade. That morning, two armed males entered the library, overpowered a safety guard and a pair visiting the exhibition, put the 13 works in a canvas bag and fled by way of the principle entrance. Safety footage helped police hint their escape and led to the primary arrest the subsequent day.
The investigation continued over the subsequent a number of months. In April, federal police in Rio de Janeiro arrested two key suspects in a separate investigation involving artwork theft; one was recognized because the alleged mastermind of the library heist. A month later, police carried out 11 raids in São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo, Diadema and Rio de Janeiro, focusing on properties linked to suspects in addition to companies linked to artwork auctions and gross sales.
The Matisse works on show final 12 months Courtesy Prefeitura de São Paulo, MAM São Paulo and Biblioteca Mário de Andrade
In line with the police assertion: “The group operated in a structured means, with advance planning and a division of duties to steal, deal with and in the end place cultural property on the illicit artwork market.”
The recovered works are Le clown, Le cirque, Monsieur Loyal, Cauchemar de l’éléphant blanc, Les codomas, La nageuse dans l’aquarium, L’avaleur de sabres and Le cowboy. All eight are a part of Jazz, considered one of Matisse’s most celebrated artist books. Printed in 1947, the quantity belonged to the Mário de Andrade Library’s uncommon books assortment.
Jazz was additionally a key work within the exhibition from which it was stolen. Organised with the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (Mam São Paulo) and curated by Cauê Alves and Pedro Nery, the present explored the event of Brazilian modernism within the Forties and 50s.
Whereas the works will not be a part of Mam São Paulo’s assortment, the museum welcomed their retrieval. “The restoration of those works by Henri Matisse is a crucial second for São Paulo’s cultural heritage and for the preservation of its public artwork collections,” Cauê Alves, the chief curator of Mam São Paulo, tells The Artwork Newspaper. “Past the return of eight vital works to the Mário de Andrade Library, it reinforces the significance of safeguarding and valuing Brazil’s cultural heritage.”
The Mário de Andrade Library, which marked its centenary in 2025, is Brazil’s second-largest public library and holds round 1.38 million gadgets. After the theft, the town tightened safety on the library.
