A daring heist took place early Tuesday morning at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where two burglars managed to steal four valuable artworks. According to local mayor Bryan Masson, the intruders broke into the historic estate, which served as the legendary impressionist painter's final home, at approximately 5:48 am. Although municipal police arrived on the scene within a mere five minutes of the alarm sounding, the thieves successfully made off with three pieces, inadvertently dropping one of the paintings during their hasty escape. The total value of the stolen collection is estimated to be around $10 million.

The Renoir Museum, established in 1960, houses an intimate look into the artist's life, featuring original furniture, personal items like his wheelchair, and an array of his iconic landscapes and portraits. This brazen incident follows a troubling trend of high-profile art thefts in France, most notably a massive $100 million daylight robbery at the Louvre less than a year ago. While the suspects in the Louvre case were apprehended, those priceless artifacts remain missing, heightening concerns regarding the security of the nation's cultural treasures.