Police say paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth millions were stolen in a heist on a museum near the Italian city of Parma.

Police explained that four masked men entered the Magnani Rocca Foundation villa on March 22, making off with Les Poissons by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul Cézanne and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse.

Italian media outlets have reported that the gang was in and out in the space of three minutes, and was only interrupted by the museum’s alarm system, preventing them from stealing more.

The institution is the latest to be subjected to a heist, following the brazen daylight robbery of priceless jewels from the Louvre in Paris last October.

Reports say the thieves involved in the robbery forced their way through the main door to the Villa dei Capolavori, in the Parma countryside, and nabbed the paintings from the French Room on the building’s first floor.

The foundation was quoted as saying the gang appeared “structured and organised”, and seemed to have intended on stealing more were it not for the private collection’s alarms going off and police being called.

It is estimated that the stolen paintings were worth a combined €9m, with Les Poissons alone worth €6m, making it one of the most significant art thefts in Italy in recent years.

The theft is now being investigated by Italy’s Carabinieri and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna.

The Magnani Rocca Foundation was established following the death of Luigi Magnani, a composer and art collector, in 1984 in his family home.

BBC/Maxwell Oyekunle

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