In ‘Woman in Yellow and Blue with Guitar,’ painted in 1939, Henri Matisse brings a thoughtful face to life amid bold colors. This canvas recalls his palette without belonging to the eight recovered plates of ‘Jazz.’ Credits: Francesco Bini / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
On August 13, the Civil Police of the State of São Paulo recovered eight plates from Henri Matisse’s illustrated book Jazz. They were found in a house in São Bernardo do Campo after eight months of investigation. Returned to the Mário de Andrade Library, they still must be examined before rejoining its collections. Five engravings by Candido Portinari, taken in the same theft, remain missing.
Eight Plates Recovered And Returned To The Library
The eight works were seized together in a house in São Bernardo do Campo, in the southeastern outskirts of São Paulo. The press release published by the city government states that they were identified and then handed over to a representative of the Mário de Andrade Library. A police report records this return, which took place on the same day the works were recovered.
The set includes The Clown, The Circus, Monsieur Loyal, The Nightmare of the White Elephant, and The Codomas. It also includes The Swimmer in the Aquarium, The Sword-Swallower, and The Cowboy. These eight compositions belong to a single copy of Jazz, published in 1947. Their material return does not, however, mean either that they are intact or that they will be able to be shown again soon.
A man present in the residence was taken into custody. According to the Civil Police, he is suspected of having kept the works on behalf of other people under investigation. He must answer to suspicions of receiving stolen goods and unlawful possession of a firearm seized on the scene. These charges are still part of the investigation and do not constitute a conviction.
The operation was carried out by the first specialized Cerco unit, which had been following the case since December. The authorities have not released the detail that made it possible to locate the engravings. They do, however, present this seizure as the outcome of searches and cross-checks. These were conducted in São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo, Diadema, and Rio de Janeiro.
Jazz, An Art Book Rather Than A Series Of Isolated Images
The significance of the recovery lies in the coherence of the set. The Museum of Modern Art in New York describes Jazz as an illustrated book of twenty stencils, created between 1943 and 1947. Tériade published it in Paris in an edition of 250 copies. Stenciling is a hand-printing technique using cut-out masks. It was chosen here to reproduce the flat color areas of the gouache-painted papers Matisse cut out directly.
The artist was then working with very limited mobility after a major operation. What he called his cut-paper drawing allowed him to compose with color before even drawing an outline. The twenty plates blend circus, travel, fairy tales, and mythology. Beneath their apparent cheerfulness, some also carry the tension of the war years. The project took shape during this period, as the Metropolitan Museum of Art entry notes.
The eight recovered sheets are therefore not simple interchangeable reproductions. They belong to an identified volume, held in a public collection and bearing its own material history. A printed series can exist in several copies while still requiring precise traceability for each one. This traceability concerns provenance, paper condition, color integrity, and the continuity of the holdings.
In the book, the compositions alternate with a handwritten text by Matisse. Their sequence gives the volume its rhythm, like a visual score. The eight works had been detached from this context for the exhibition. Their significance, however, is not limited to their colored surface: each occupies a place in a sequence of twenty plates. Recovering the whole group thus preserves more than an addition of isolated pieces.
The market value published by the authorities, exceeding one million reais, gives a sense of scale but does not sum up the issue. The pieces’ insurance value has remained confidential. For the library, the loss concerned above all a heritage document held by a public institution. The significance of this set lies as much in the book as in each plate.
A Theft Carried Out In Minutes On The Last Day Of The Exhibition
On December 7, 2025, two armed men entered the Mário de Andrade Library posing as visitors. According to the account established by the authorities, they subdued a security guard as well as visitors. They removed the works from their display cases, then left the building through the main entrance with a canvas bag. The operation lasted only a few minutes.
The thirteen pieces were brought together in the exhibition From Book To Museum: MAM São Paulo And The Mário de Andrade Library. It was organized with the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. The theft took place on a Sunday morning, the exhibition’s last day. In addition to the eight Matisse works, the perpetrators took five illustrations by Candido Portinari. They were linked to an edition of Menino de Engenho, a novel by José Lins do Rego.
Surveillance footage quickly helped identify several people suspected of taking part in the theft or hiding the pieces. Arrests and searches followed over the months. The Civil Police says the group operated with divided responsibilities and sought to move the works into the illicit market. That remains the investigators’ reading; individual responsibility still has to be established by the courts.
The city had reported the works to Interpol through the Federal Police. National databases listing sought-after cultural property, as well as art market players, had also been alerted. This network is meant to make resale harder and every subsequent movement easier to trace.
Expert Review Required Before Any Return To The Public
Returning the works to the library now opens a less dramatic but decisive phase. Specialists must examine the paper, pigments, any folds, moisture marks, or damage linked to handling and storage conditions. The city has not yet announced the results of this review or said when the sheets might rejoin the holdings or go on display.
Paper works require this caution. They are more vulnerable to light, changes in humidity, and handling than a canvas painting. The fact that the eight plates appear together in the seizure photographs does not, by itself, allow their condition to be assessed. Their administrative return and their effective reentry into the collections are two separate steps.
After the theft, the city says it revised security protocols and increased the number of guards. It also requested additional training for the company in charge of security. These measures respond to a challenge specific to heritage libraries. They must protect rare pieces without turning a place for consultation and exhibition into an inaccessible space.
The recovery also gives curators material evidence that may shed light on the works’ journey since December. Supports, packaging, or handling marks can help document their storage conditions, regardless of their possible usefulness to the criminal investigation.
The Five Portinari Works Are Still Missing
The August 13 seizure resolves only the Matisse part of the theft. The five engravings by Candido Portinari have not been found. Police suspect they may have been sold, but no public confirmation can currently support that claim. Their location remains one of the investigation’s main objectives.
The fate of these pieces is a reminder that a stolen work can disappear for good without ever being displayed or openly offered for sale. It can remain hidden, change hands several times, or reappear abroad long after the fact. International alerts and specialized registries exist precisely to keep a record when the immediate investigation is no longer enough.
Several people have been arrested in the different strands of the case, but the Civil Police has not yet released a final judicial outcome. Each person’s exact role and the existence of a mastermind remain subject to investigation and legal proceedings. The same applies to the intended destination of the works. Using the terms suspect or person under investigation therefore remains necessary.
For the Mário de Andrade Library, the priority is now twofold. It must determine the true condition of the eight Matisse plates and preserve the conditions for their future access. The return is a major step for São Paulo’s public heritage. It does not end the search for the Portinari works and does not yet authorize the return of the Jazz works to readers.