Brazilian police have identified Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva as the alleged mastermind behind the December 2025 theft of eight Henri Matisse prints and five Cândido Portinari illustrations from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo, Brazil's second-largest library. The heist occurred on the final day of the exhibition “From Book to Museum,” organized with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art; two armed men held a guard and an elderly couple at gunpoint before fleeing with the works. Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva, already in custody for a separate attempted theft, is described by investigators as a longtime rare-book thief who allegedly coordinated the operation through intermediaries. Two other suspects have been arrested, but one gunman remains at large and the artworks have not been recovered.
The case matters because it highlights a sophisticated network targeting Brazil's cultural heritage, involving both rare books and high-value modern art. The stolen Matisse prints from the Jazz portfolio (1947) and Portinari works are significant pieces of modern art history, and their disappearance underscores vulnerabilities in cultural institutions. The alleged organizer's history of thefts from major Brazilian institutions—including the National Library Foundation, the University of São Paulo, the National Museum, and the Itamaraty Palace—points to a systemic challenge in protecting cultural artifacts. The unresolved recovery of the artworks leaves a gap in Brazil's cultural record and raises questions about international art trafficking.