Isabella Stewart Gardner built a Venetian-style palace in Boston to hold her collection, and she arranged every piece herself. More than 2,500 objects, from paintings to furniture to textiles, sat exactly where she wanted them. Then she wrote her will to keep them there. If anyone significantly rearranged the collection or added to it, the whole estate would pass to Harvard College, to be sold. So the rooms froze in place, and the museum could not easily change its displays or its security. On a night in 1990, that frozen palace became the scene of the largest unsolved art heist in the world. Two men walked in dressed as police. They left with works worth more than half a billion dollars, and nobody has ever recovered them. How did two men get through the door, and where did the paintings go?
The Gardner Museum Heist
Two men dressed as police stole 13 works worth over $500 million from a Boston museum in 81 minutes, and none has come back.
A Palace Frozen in Place
Frequently Asked Questions
What was stolen in the Gardner Museum heist?
Thirteen items were taken on March 18, 1990, worth an estimated $500 million or more. They include Vermeer's 'The Concert,' three works by Rembrandt, five Degas sketches, a Chinese bronze beaker, and a Napoleonic eagle finial. The Vermeer alone accounts for roughly half the value.
Why can the Gardner Museum not replace the stolen paintings?
Isabella Stewart Gardner's will says that if the collection is significantly rearranged or added to, the estate goes to Harvard College to be sold. The museum therefore cannot fill the gaps with new acquisitions. Empty frames hang where the works once were.
Has the Gardner Museum heist been solved?
Not fully. The FBI announced in 2013 that it had identified the thieves and confirmed in 2015 that the two men who committed the robbery had died. The art has not been recovered, and a $10 million reward is still offered for information leading to its return.
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