BOSTON — 1990 · Unsolved Case

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

In the early hours of 18 March 1990, two men dressed as police officers talked their way into Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, claiming to be answering a disturbance call. They tied up the two guards on duty and left 81 minutes later with 13 works, including Vermeer's 'The Concert', Rembrandt's only seascape 'Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee', Manet's 'Chez Tortoni' and works by Degas. Valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, the haul makes it the largest unsolved art theft in history. The museum offers a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the works, and their empty frames still hang on the walls.

Date: 1990
Place: Massachusetts, USA, Boston, US
Category: Unsolved Case
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 42.3382, -71.0991 ↗

Timeline of Events

18 March 1990Two thieves posing as police entered the museum and took 13 works.
1997The museum raised its reward to $5 million.

2013The FBI said it believed it had identified the thieves; the art was not recovered.
2017The reward was doubled to $10 million.

Sources

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