When the Mona Lisa vanished in 1911, the world’s eyes were glued to the scandal, turning the portrait into a cultural icon. Though it resurfaced after two years, countless masterpieces remain unaccounted for, many of them snatched during the notorious 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery in Boston – a caper that netted thieves over $500 million in art. Below, we count down the 10 famous works that have yet to be recovered, each with its own dramatic backstory.
10 Famous Works Worth the Hunt
10 Landscape With An Obelisk, Govert Flinck
Long mistaken for a Rembrandt, Landscape With An Obelisk is actually the work of Dutch painter Govert Flinck. The oil‑on‑wood piece measures 21 × 28 inches and portrays a tempest‑laden scene featuring a towering obelisk, a broken tree trunk, and a diminutive rider on horseback.
The canvas shot to fame when it was lifted from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum during the 1990 heist. Two men, masquerading as police officers, overpowered guards and walked away with thirteen artworks, including this painting. The museum’s founder stipulated that the original hanging order remain untouched, which is why visitors still see an empty frame hanging where Flinck’s work once lived.
9 Just Judges, Jan Van Eyck
The Ghent Altarpiece—a monumental polyptych crafted by Jan Van Eyck and his brother Hubert—lost one of its panels, the Just Judges, in 1934. The theft occurred at St. Bavo’s Cathedral, where the altarpiece originally hung.
The crime was uncovered by the cathedral’s sexton, the first to notice the panel’s absence. Thieves forced the chapel door, pried off the iron hinges, and absconded with the panel, leaving a note claiming the robbery was revenge for the Treaty of Versailles.
Investigators learned the culprit operated under the alias “D.U.A.” A ransom demand for one million Belgian francs was sent to the bishop of Ghent, but it turned out to be a diversion. While negotiations led to the return of the companion panel, John the Baptist, the Just Judges panel remains missing to this day.
8 Storm On The Sea Of Galilee, Rembrandt
Rembrandt’s 1633 masterpiece, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, vanished in the same 1990 Gardner Museum heist that claimed Flinck’s canvas. Two impostors posing as police officers slipped into the museum, subdued the security staff, and walked away with thirteen works, including this dramatic seascape.
The thieves cut the painting from its frame and removed it with professional precision. Despite a massive FBI investigation and a $5 million reward, the work remains unrecovered. One theory points to local mobsters intending to sell the piece on the black market; to date, investigators have pursued over 30 000 leads without success.
7 Poppy Flowers, Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh’s Poppy Flowers—sometimes called Vase and Flowers—has been stolen twice. Created in 1887, the vibrant canvas shows bright yellow blossoms with scarlet blooms against a dark backdrop. After Van Gogh’s death, the painting traveled from Paris to Cairo, eventually becoming part of the Mohamed Khalil Museum collection.
The first theft occurred in 1977 during a palace transfer, with the work later recovered in Kuwait. A second heist in August 2010 saw thieves cut the canvas from its frame in broad daylight, exposing glaring security flaws: most cameras were offline and alarms were disabled. Valued at roughly $50 million today, the painting’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
6 View Of Auvers‑Sur‑Oise, Cezanne
Paul Cezanne’s View of Auvers‑sur‑Oise fetched an estimated $5.5 million AUD before it disappeared from Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum on New Year’s Eve 1999. Thieves exploited the festive chaos, scaling scaffolding, shattering a skylight, and deploying a smoke bomb to blind the surveillance system before snatching the canvas with a rope ladder.
The museum’s sole Cezanne piece vanished while other works by Renoir, Rodin, and Toulouse‑Lautrec remained untouched. Experts suspect the theft was a demand‑driven job, given the painting’s fame and limited resale market. Despite intensive investigations by British and international art‑crime specialists, the canvas has yet to surface.
5 Nativity With St. Francis And St. Lawrence, Caravaggio
Caravaggio’s 1609 masterpiece Nativity With St. Francis and St. Lawrence depicts the infant Christ amid saints, shepherds, an ox, and an angel bearing a banner that reads “Gloria.” The work was stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo on October 18 1969.
Although investigations have produced numerous theories—ranging from the painting being burnt, abandoned, or even sliced into pieces—the artwork’s current location remains unknown. Valued at roughly $20 million, it ranks among the FBI’s top ten art crimes of all time. Some rumor mills suggest it may be hidden in Sicily, possibly serving as collateral in drug‑related deals.
4 Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud
While most art lovers know the names Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, fewer realize the two shared a 25‑year friendship that began in the mid‑1940s. Their bohemian London lives were marked by constant critique of each other’s work despite wildly differing styles.
In 1952, Freud painted Bacon’s portrait on a small copper canvas. The piece was stolen during a 1988 exhibition at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie. Despite Freud’s relentless search—including a “Wanted” poster campaign—the portrait remains missing.
3 Danish Jubilee Egg, Peter Carl Fabergé
The Danish Jubilee Egg is one of six missing Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs, originally crafted for the Russian royal family. Out of the 52 eggs Fabergé produced, only 46 are accounted for; the remaining six, including this one, have vanished.
According to the sole surviving description, the egg featured blue‑and‑white enamel set in gold, mounted on lion‑adorned columns with an elephant perched above. A central screen displayed portraits of King Christian IX and Queen Louise, jeweled with precious stones. Created in 1903, the egg symbolized the highest order of the Danish kingdom. Its last recorded sighting was at Gatchina Palace in July 1917, after which its fate remains a mystery.
2 Portrait Of A Young Man, Raphael
Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man dates to roughly 1513‑1514 and once hung in Poland’s Princes Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, alongside works by Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. The painting vanished amid Nazi looting during World War II and has been missing for over 75 years.
Some scholars suspect that Nazi official Hans Frank, who oversaw the Polish General Government, seized the piece. Whether Frank kept it or sold it to a private collector remains unclear. Today, its estimated value exceeds $100 million, making it one of the most valuable missing artworks. The museum’s empty frame still stands as a silent tribute.
1 The Concert, Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer’s The Concert—painted between 1663 and 1666—holds the dubious honor of being the single most expensive missing artwork in history. The piece vanished during the infamous 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery, which also claimed Flinck’s and Van Eyck’s works.
Depicting a domestic interior where three figures make music, the painting was the first major acquisition of museum founder Isabella Stewart Gardner. Valued today at over $200 million, the work remains the centerpiece of an ongoing FBI investigation, with the museum still offering a substantial reward for information leading to its recovery.