{"id":363369,"date":"2026-04-04T11:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363369\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T11:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:34:31","slug":"replica-of-the-stolen-cezanne-shows-up-in-momas-lost-and-found-but-is-it-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363369\/","title":{"rendered":"Replica of the stolen C\u00e9zanne shows up in MoMA’s lost and found \u2014 but is it art?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s high art heist high jinks!<\/p>\n

After paintings by Renoir, C\u00e9zanne and Matisse worth over $10 million were snatched in a three-minute heist in Italy, banker-turned-artist Nelson Saiers slipped a reproduction of the missing C\u00e9zanne into the lobby of MoMA on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

But he insists it\u2019s art, not a prank.<\/p>\n

Saiers left a print of the French painter\u2019s \u201cCup and Plate of Cherries\u201d in a plastic box with a piece of tape stuck to the front reading \u201cLost and found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brazen thieves had made their way to the Magnani Rocca foundation outside Parma overnight between March 22 and 23, and made off with three pieces: \u201cThe Fish\u201d by Renoir, \u201cOdalisque on the Terrace\u201d by Matisse and the C\u00e9zanne, with the hopes of stealing a fourth.<\/p>\n

But the museum\u2019s security alarm sent them fleeing, according to Reuters. <\/p>\n

The heist reportedly took less than three minutes, and authorities believe it\u2019s the same organized gang that famously stole $100 million worth of France\u2019s crown jewels from the Louvre in Paris<\/a> five months ago.<\/p>\n

Saiers told Page Six he was inspired because there are \u201ca lot of museum thefts in the news\u2026 I\u2019ve been intrigued by museum thefts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A replica of the C\u00e9zanne stolen from Italy appeared in MoMA\u2019s lobby this week. Nelson Saiers<\/p>\n

Banker-turned-artist Nelson Saiers was behind the guerilla art stunt. Mike Vitelli\/BFA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Saiers says he chose to focus on C\u00e9zanne because Picasso described him as \u201cthe father of us all\u201d and Matisse said he\u2019s \u201cthe one that I owe most.\u201d<\/p>\n

The painting \u201cCup and Plate of Cherries\u201d by Paul C\u00e9zanne was among three paintings stolen from a private museum in Italy. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fish\u201d by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was also taken in the art heist. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Saiers is quick to point out he\u2019s not a prankster. \u201cI\u2019m an artist. My main art is not these guerilla stunts. It\u2019s paintings and sculptures \u2026 My guerilla work is commentary on our society, and not a prank,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to get a rise out of everybody. I\u2019m trying to have a serious conversation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pulling this one off proved to be a lot easier than his guerilla stunts in the past \u2014 like when he tied to bring attention to human sex trafficking by printing out\u00a0fake Metropolitan Museum of Art brochures and placing them on the shelves next to the museum\u2019s official literature. <\/p>\n

This time he just approached the box at security and asked, \u201cCan I put these this here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Saiers previously pulled off a Black Friday guerilla art stunt at MoMA.<\/p>\n

Saiers insists he\u2019s not pranking the museum, and respects the institution tremendously. WireImage<\/p>\n

Saiers is inexplicably cagey about the museums\u2019 responses to his work, but told us, \u201cThey\u2019ve been very fair and reasonable. These institutions I respect immensely,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

And even though he pulled off his latest the day before April 1. \u201cIt\u2019s not an April Fools\u2019 joke. The issues I\u2019m dealing with are very important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s high art heist high jinks! After paintings by Renoir, C\u00e9zanne and Matisse worth over $10 million were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1228,442,498,499,500,501,156,1017,25374,8793,185253,111,139,69,2935],"class_list":{"0":"post-363369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-exclusive","16":"tag-moma","17":"tag-museums","18":"tag-new-york-city-society","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-society"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}