A plate of fish that Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted towards the end of his life, one of the impressionist’s rare appearances in a permanent collection in Italy. And then another still life with a cup and a plate of cherries created by Paul Cézanne, in 1890. Finally, one of the odalisques designed by Henri Matisse, placed on a terrace where the charm of the East and the colors of the Côte d’Azur come together.
These are the three paintings, works worth millions, stolen on the night between 22 and 23 March from the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo, in the Parma countryside. Exhibited and preserved in the Villa of Luigi Magnani’s masterpieces, in the French room on the first floor, they were stolen by a gang of professional thieves, who entered by forcing a door and there are videos showing them with their faces covered or hooded.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, ‘The Fishes’
The action, explained the Foundation itself, lasted less than three minutes and took place in a way that was anything but extemporaneous, “but rather within a structured and organized context”. With “evident planned functional subdivision of the serious illicit conduct, which however was not completed due to the entry into operation of the protection systems and thanks to the very prompt intervention of internal security, the carabinieri and the surveillance institute to whom the most sincere thanks go for their courage and timeliness”.
In fact, intense investigations are underway by the Parma Carabinieri and the cultural heritage protection unit of Bologna, coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office, into the art theft, one of the most important carried out in Italy in recent years. The news remained confidential for a week and the museum remained open to the public as usual, even today. The paintings, ‘Les Poissons’ by Renoir – oil on canvas (1917), ‘Tasse et plat de cerises’ by Cézanne – watercolor (1890) and ‘Odalisque sur la terrasse’ – aquatint on paper (1922) by Matisse – are part of the rich collection of one of the most important Italian art institutions.
Paul Cézanne’s work “Still Life with Cherries”
Critic, musicologist and writer, Luigi Magnani (1906-1984) throughout his life put together works by greats such as Titian, Dürer, Rubens, Goya, Canova, Monet, Burri and one of the most significant collections of works by Giorgio Morandi. Immersed in the Parma countryside, the residence features neoclassical and empire furnishings, is surrounded by a Romantic Park with exotic plants, monumental trees and white and colored peacocks, emblem of the Symbolist movement. Right at ‘Symbolism in Italy. Origins and developments of a new aesthetics 1883-1915’ is dedicated to the exhibition, with more than 140 works, ongoing at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation until 28 June
Henri Matisse’s opera “Odalisque on the terrace” (1922)
In recent years there have been many important exhibitions hosted, just as the collaborations started over time with other museum institutions in Europe and around the world are proven. For example, the fifty Morandi paintings were lent for an exhibition in New York, at the David Zwirner Gallery, at the beginning of 2025. While for the 150 years of Impressionism, ‘La Promenade’ by Renoir was hosted at the end of 2024, one of the most fascinating paintings by the French artist and perhaps of his entire artistic movement. The painting came from the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and was added, for a period, to the two Renoirs in the permanent collection, witnesses of the painter’s most mature period: ‘Paysage de Cagnes’ and, indeed, ‘Les poissons’.
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