It’s rare for the visual arts to make headline news, and it’s unfortunate when they do in a story like this one. On the night of May 19, a masked man entered the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris through a window and stole five oil painted pictures, removing them from their frames and escaping without setting off an alarm. The story quickly made headlines, partially because of the crime’s lurid intrigue and partially because of the estimated value of the words – over $120 million. Since then, we’ve all seen a picture of the painting Le pigeon aux petits pois by Picasso or of La Pastorale by Matisse alongside an article. Those two landscape portraits are usually the only ones mentioned, as the significant but lesser known Modigliani, Léger, and Braque works are often unfortunately lumped together as “three other paintings”.

What can this man possibly be planning to do with his contraband? Plenty of art thieves actually count on simply ransoming the stolen goods back to the owner. More strangely, after a painting has passed through several different owners, it can often be sold to an unknowing customer who is led to believe that the painting is a very high quality reproduction – not the work itself but a skillful oil painting from a picture of the original. What’s most likely in this situation is a third option. Although the value of a stolen painting is markedly less than the official value, the underground art market is unfortunately very healthy. The authorities seem to suspect that this is what’s happening with the five stolen oil portraits, as Interpol has issued a global alert, implying they believe the works may already have been removed from France.