Brazilian police have arrested three suspects in connection with the December 7 theft of 13 works by Henri Matisse and Candido Portinari from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo. The stolen artworks remain missing. One suspect remains at large: Gabriel Pereira Rodrigues de Mello, nicknamed “Gargamel” and “Capybara”, who had prior robbery convictions overturned earlier this year. The heist involved two armed men who subdued a guard and visitors before removing the works from a glass display case and escaping via a getaway van.
The case matters because it has exposed serious security gaps at public cultural institutions in Brazil, especially for exhibitions held outside museum settings. The stolen works, valued at up to $185,000, are considered culturally and historically priceless. Authorities have involved Interpol and multiple national agencies to prevent the pieces from being sold on the black market, and the incident has sparked broader debate about the protection of Brazil's public art collections.