‘Worth zero’: why stolen Renoir paintings have little black market value

Art crime experts stress that most buyers simply do not want the liability. In short, the reality looks nothing like the films.

“People always think that there is this kind of Dr No type from the James Bond movie,” says Arthur Brand, a private art detective based in the Netherlands. “But that’s Hollywood. In the real world, there are no collectors like that.”

Brand, who has investigated art crime for about 20 years, explains that often “nobody will touch” stolen art, particularly high-profile work. Sometimes that means paintings valued at millions of dollars are effectively “worth zero” once they are outside the museum, he added, if not a small fraction of the price.

The theft at the Renoir Museum – the converted last home of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir – in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a French Riviera commune near Nice, marks the latest high-profile art crime targeting collections around the world, and experts warn there could be more.