Monet and Van Gogh paintings recovered among several recently stolen from a Zurich museum

Recently a group of four armed men succeeded in making off with four highly valued paintings including Monet's Les Coquelicots près de Vétheuil and Van Gogh's Branche de marronnier en fleurs, both of which were recovered after police received a call from a psychiatric hospital worker who found the paintings in the back seat of a car parked in the parking lot.

Degas' Comte Lepic et ses filles, and Cézanne's Le Garçon au gilet rouge are both still missing. The four paintings together value about 112 millions euros.


Read more about the theft and recovery of these paintings:
Le Monde: Deux des quatre tableaux de maître volés à Zurich ont été retrouvés

Photos of Symposium: Iconography of the Dance

Last week for the French & Italian Symposium, Dr. Debra Lowell gave a lively tour of some of the Museum of Art's French and Italian prints.

Monet painting damaged

A few nights ago, according to reports, a group of vandals broke into the Musée d'Orsay and left a 10 cm gash in the famous Monet painting Le pont d'Argenteuil. A sad day for Monet lovers everywhere.





Read more about the incident here:
Un Monet très endommagé au musée d’Orsay

Nine Paris Museums to Test Free Entry in 2008

In an attempt to bring more visitors to the less frequented museums of Paris, and at the request of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Culture and Communication is going to trial free entry to the following nine museums:

• le musée d'archéologie nationale à Saint-Germain-en-Laye
• le musée d'archéologie nationale à Cluny
• le Musée Guimet à Paris
• le Musée de la Renaissance à Ecouen
• les musées Adrien-Dubouché à Limoges
• Magnin à Dijon
• du palais du Tau à Reims
• le Musée Jacques-Cœur à Bourges
• le château d'Oiron

Read more about the museums:
La gratuité des musées sera expérimentée au premier semestre 2008