The $500 Million Art Heist That Remains Unsolved

More than 34 years ago, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - an art museum located in the heart of Boston - suffered one of the most devastating thefts in art history. In fact, the Gardner Museum heist is considered one of the largest property thefts in terms of value in history. And it remains completely unsolved.

What happened during the Gardner Museum heist?

Early in the morning of March 18, 1990, two men in police uniforms pushed the Museum’s entry buzzer. They told the guard on duty that they were responding to a call about a disturbance and asked to be let in.

Against security protocol, the guard complied.

However, the men in uniform were not real police officers but thieves. Upon entering the building, they immediately handcuffed both guards on duty and then tied them up in the basement of the museum.

From that point on, the thieves had free reign of the museum. They began cutting paintings out of their frames and grabbing smaller works of art such as a Chinese metal vase. These stolen paintings include “Chez Tortoni” by Édouard Manet, “Landscape with an Obelisk” by Govaert Flinck, “Leaving the Paddock” by Edgar Degas, and several works by Rembrandt van Rijn, including “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” the only seascape the artist ever painted.

Altogether, the value of the 13 stolen pieces is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The thieves brought the stolen works to their car and departed around 2:45 a.m., 81 minutes after they arrived. Subsequently, the guards (and the theft) weren’t discovered until 8:15 a.m.

Where is the art now?

The night of the theft was the last time anyone saw any of the stolen artwork. The thieves effectively disappeared. Despite the combined efforts of the Gardner Museum, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s office, no suspect was or has ever been arrested in connection to the heist. In 2015, the FBI did name two long-dead criminals as the probable culprits but has never revealed any implicating evidence in public.

While there have been rumors and supposed sightings of some of the stolen artworks, none of these rumors have been substantiated. The museum continues to offer $10 million for any information that leads to the recovery of the artworks. So far, there have been no takers.

In other words, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist might just be the most perfect crime ever committed. It’s also distinctly strange in that the thieves stole valuable pieces but ignored artwork of even greater value; for example, they walked right past an original Michelangelo. It’s not clear why they picked the pieces they did.

Today, you can visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and see the empty frames that once contained the stolen artworks. While widespread belief claims this is because the museum’s charter prevents them from taking the frames down, the truth is the empty frames are a symbol of hope: one day, perhaps they will be filled again.

References: GARDNER MUSEUM THEFT | THE THEFT | Empty Frames and Other Oddities From the Unsolved Gardner Museum Heist | Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist happened 34 years ago, FBI still receiving tips