In front of the Mario de Andrade Library in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 7, 2025. NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP
A suspect has been arrested in the theft of eight Henri Matisse artworks from a São Paolo library, Brazilian authorities said on Monday, December 8. The man was apprehended in central São Paolo after being "identified following investigative work and analysis of security cameras that recorded the criminal act on Sunday," the government of the Brazilian state said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, police said they had identified one of two suspects behind the theft of the engravings by Matisse and found the robbers' getaway car. A pair of gunmen stole the late French master's works, as well as five pieces by the Brazilian painter Candido Portinari, from the Mario de Andrade Library in the center of the Brazilian mega-city.
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