During the theft of Delacroix’s watercolors, the alarm did not work in the gallery

As the police managed to establish, in the Paris gallery of Robert Schmit (Schmit), during the theft of Delacroix’s watercolors from it, the alarm did not work. This explains the unprecedented ease and audacity of this crime, which the media has already called the "crime of the century." In the investigation of the incident involved the unit to combat banditry.

Eugene Delacroix - Arabs from Oran (fragment)

The theft of the famous watercolors “Arabs from Oran” (Arabes d’Oran, 1837) by the French classic Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) was committed on November 30, in broad daylight, between 14:00 and 14:30, in the gallery located in the center of Paris, on Saint-Honoré street, near the famous Place Vendôme.

Police suggest that a watercolor, measuring 19 x 11 cm, was abducted by a 50-year-old man in a dark coat, who took her off the wall.

The Private Schmit Gallery was created in 1929 and specializes in the sale of works by French and foreign artists of the XIX-XX centuries, including Van Gogh, Eduard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Amadeo Modigliani and others. In addition Moreover, the art salon has one of the largest collections - about 30,000 volumes - books on art, including a full catalog of sales of works of art dating back to the 18th century. The gallery collaborates with a number of eminent experts in the evaluation of works, including painting, sculpture, watercolors and drawings.

Over the past week, this is the second major theft committed in the French capital. On the night of November 23-24, jewelry worth € 450,000 was stolen from the salon of the Artcurial auction house on the Champs Elysees.

Anna Sidorova