Major heist of modern art at Dutch museum
Police stand guard at the Rotterdam Kunsthal museum on October 16, 2012. Several valuable paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and other modern masters were stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal Museum, police said, October 16, 2012. / ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images
ROTTERDAM Dutch police say seven paintings stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam include one by Pablo Picasso, one by Henri Matisse, and two by Claude Monet.
Art heist: Theives swipe Picasso, Monet works
The heist, one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, occurred while the private Triton Foundation collection was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time.
The collection was on display as part of an exhibit of more than 150 works, in celebration of the Kunsthal's 20th anniversary.
Police are reviewing videotape footage and calling on any witnesses to the crime to come forward. The heist is believed to have taken place in the early hours of Tuesday.
Modern art heist at Dutch museum
Also stolen were works by Lucian Freud, Paul Gauguin, and Meyer de Haan.
The Kunsthal has not released which paintings were stolen. It announced will remain closed to the public as police conduct their investigation.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Mexico's drug war 20 Photos
- Graphic video: Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack Play Video
- U.K. official: London attack suspects probed before
- Muslim hard-liners ID suspect in London attack
- Tokyo's rockabilly scene 16 Photos
- Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack
- People cling to car in "sidewalk skiing" stunt Play Video
- London soldier slaying homegrown Islamic extremism?
