Thieves stole four pieces of art from a museum in France dedicated to impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, dropping one of the artworks as they fled the site.
The mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, located in the south of France, announced the theft on Tuesday morning.
Bryan Masson said two thieves entered the Renoir museum and triggered two alarms, one at 5.48am and another at 5.53am.
He said CCTV showed them fleeing soon after, “abandoning one of the stolen paintings,” as they left.
He said local and national police had been informed, and an investigation was already underway.
Masson said: “Attacking the Renoir Museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. These events are particularly serious.
“They also confirm the urgent need to implement the comprehensive plan to secure our museums and protect our works of art, a plan to which I have committed.”
The mayor did not estimate how valuable the paintings were, but French media have speculated they were worth around 9 million euros (£7.7m).
The theft will reignite the debate around the security of French museums, which comes less than a year after £76m worth of jewellery was stolen from the Louvre in Paris.
The police have four of the Louvre suspects in custody, but so far none of the pieces of jewellery has been recovered.
The theft triggered a political storm in France and led to the resignation of the Louvre’s director.
Last month, several Renaissance classics were stolen from a museum in Sicily during an Italian holiday.
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