Seven paintings, including a Picasso and two Monets, stolen from art museum

Seven paintings worth millions of dollars, including works by Pablo Picasso, Lucien Freud and Henri Matisse, were stolen from the Kunsthal Rotterdam in the Netherlands early Tuesday morning at around 3am local time.

The works of art were on loan to the museum from the private Triton Foundation, owned by multimillionaire Willem Cordia, an investor and businessman. The 150-plus paintings are part of an exhibition celebrating Kunsthal Rotterdam’s 20th anniversary. It is the first time that the avant-garde works, which span several Western artistic movements, have been shown to the public.

The stolen paintings are:

• Picasso’s 1971 Harlequin Head
• Monet’s 1901 Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London
• Henri Matisse’s 1919 Reading Girl in White and Yellow
• Paul Gauguin’s 1898 Girl in Front of Open Window
• Meyer de Haan’s Self-Portrait, dating from around 1890
• Lucian Freud’s 2002 Woman with Eyes Closed

The museum, which will be closed today on account of the ongoing investigation, has announced that “no further statements will be made until further notice.”

The exhibition, which opened on October 7, is slated to run until January 20, 2013.