The theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Musée du Louvre in Paris in 1911, is one of the world’s most famous art thefts. Since the Second World War art crime has dramatically evolved into the third highest grossing annual criminal trade worldwide. Earlier this year, the National Gallery in Athens suffered a severe loss with the theft of Pablo Picasso’s “Female Head” and Piet Mondrian’s “The Mill.” Locally, South Africans have recently witnessed major thefts from National Institutions, galleries and collections.

As the value of South African artworks has risen, there has been a spike in the number of artworks being stolen around South Africa. Paintings are targeted as well as bronze, copper and tin sculptures that can be melted down and sold for scrap value, realizing a tiny fraction of the value. While damages to artworks in transit or on site are high in frequency, art theft, particularly from public collections and museums is rising. Insured under a Standard commercial assets or contents policy, it is likely that your collection is insured for less than its current value and thus in the event of a theft, the amount paid against the claim will be in proportion to the value.

 Artinsure will pay out the agreed value of the work in the policy schedule and through our local and international network, we pursue the recovery of the artworks .

Committed to protecting collections and South Africa’s cultural heritage, Artinsure established the Art Theft Register which acts a comprehensive archive, listing stolen artworks in the country. For more information visit:  http://www.artinsure.co.za/art-theft-register

Tete de Femme (1959), by Pablo Picasso stolen from

National Gallery, Athens, Greece