Thieves Raid Renoir Museum in Latest French Art Heist

A pair of thieves stole four artworks from a French museum dedicated to the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in a sign of the country’s struggle to protect its cultural heritage following last year’s Louvre heist.

The thieves dropped one painting in their escape, said Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, the French Riviera town where the French impressionist spent his final years and that now houses the museum. Police arrived at the scene five minutes after the alarm went off in the early hours of Tuesday but couldn’t catch the two individuals, who were later spotted by local surveillance cameras, Masson added.

It remains unclear which artworks were stolen. The Musée Renoir, founded in 1960, showcases a dozen original Renoir paintings, including portraits, nudes and still-life paintings. It also houses around 40 sculptures as well as photographs that belonged to his family.

France is contending with a wave of thefts that have targeted its museums in recent years. Last October a team of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in broad daylight and made off with a clutch of crown jewels valued at $102 million. None of the eight pieces of jewelry stolen in that heist have been recovered, though several suspects have been detained and face preliminary charges.

In July this year, a sledgehammer-wielding trio broke into the Lalique Museum in the French village of Wingen-sur-Moder, walking out with 27 pieces of jewelry. Around $5 million worth of art nouveau jewelry was stolen, much of it designed by the famed luxury designer René Jules Lalique, who was known for his florid, enameled brooches, ornate perfume bottles and crystal vases popular across Europe from the 1890s onward. Later that month, thieves stole a gold torque necklace from a Celtic burial arrangement known as the Vix treasure at the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais, a museum in Burgundy.

The heist on Tuesday is yet another blow to France’s cultural institutions. Renoir is celebrated for his light-dappled canvases capturing 19th-century European leisure, high society and timeless figurative studies. His work is displayed in museums worldwide, including in the U.S.

“To attack the Renoir Museum is to attack part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer,” said Masson, the far-right mayor of the town. The theft “confirms the need to immediately implement a comprehensive plan to secure France’s museums and protect works of art,” he added.

The French government announced this summer new measures to protect France’s cultural heritage, including the temporary removal of certain objects from display cases until their protection can be ensured.

Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com