Gunmen have robbed a Rio de Janeiro art museum of their most valuable paintings including a Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Dali, the Chacara do Ceu museum director said. The gunmen also mugged five tourists inside the museum. At least four men brandishing firearms and a hand grenade, broke into museum and made off with four paintings and a book. The paintings were the most valuable in the museum's collection and included Pablo Picasso's "The Dance" and a book by him titled Toros, Claude Monet's "Marine", Henri Matisse's"Garden of Luxembourg" and Salvador Dali's "Two Balconies". It seems the robbers knew exactly what they were taking. There was no immediate estimate made of the value of the stolen paintings.
Police interviewed by local television news channels said a museum guard who tried to stop the thieves was hit in the face, while another who attempted to yank the Picasso from a robber's hands got hit over the head with a weapon. The gunmen forced museum staff to disconnect the alarm and camera system before the heist, then disappeared into the vast crowd of carnival goers outside as they fled.
