Two armed men have stolen eight prints by French artist Henri Matisse and at least five others by Brazilian painter Cândido Portinari from a library in São Paulo, BBC reported, via Rks News.
Brazilian officials stated that the thieves stopped a security guard and an elderly couple visiting the library before fleeing on foot with the artworks.
It is reported that the suspects entered the library through the main entrance at 10:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT) on Sunday and exited the same way, heading toward the nearest subway station.
The theft comes less than two months after the art world was shaken by a brazen heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where thieves made off with priceless jewels.
The prints stolen from the Mário de Andrade Library on Sunday were part of a joint exhibition with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.
The thieves targeted the exhibition, titled From the Book to the Museum, on its final day.
The Mário de Andrade Library is the second-largest library in Brazil, and officials said its downtown São Paulo building was equipped with facial recognition cameras.
Police reported that they have identified one of the two suspects and are working to identify the second. They also announced that the getaway car had been located.
