Two armed men invaded the Mário de Andrade Library in downtown São Paulo on Sunday morning (7), stealing eight prints by Henri Matisse and five by Candido Portinari. The robbery took place on the final day of an exhibition marking the institution's centenary. The works, part of historical collections, hold significant cultural value and had been stolen previously.
On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 2025, around 10:15 a.m., two armed men entered the Mário de Andrade Municipal Library in the Consolação neighborhood, central São Paulo. The library was open to the public, and the incident occurred on the final day of the exhibition 'From Book to Museum: MAM São Paulo and the Mário de Andrade Library,' displaying rare books and works from the 1940s and 1950s.
One of the thieves approached an unarmed security guard, revealing a gun hidden under his shirt, and took her to a room where he confiscated her communication radio and cell phone. Meanwhile, the accomplice removed eight prints from Henri Matisse's book 'Jazz' from the walls: 'The Clown' (Le Clown), 'The Circus' (Le Cirque), 'Monsieur Loyal,' 'Nightmare of the White Elephant' (Cauchemar de l'Eléphant Blanc), 'The Quails' (Le Codomas), 'The Swimmer in the Aquarium' (La Nageuse Dans l'Aquarium), 'The Sword Swallower' (L'avaleur de Sabres), and 'The Cowboy' (Le Cowboy). Additionally, five prints by Candido Portinari from the series 'Menino de Engenho,' illustrations for José Lins do Rego's book published in 1959 by the Society of One Hundred Bibliophiles of Brazil, were taken.
There were no victims or shots fired. The suspects fled toward Anhangabaú metro station. One wore worn jeans and a red shirt; the other, jeans, a blue hoodie, and a blue cap. Mayor Ricardo Nunes's (MDB) administration confirmed the robbery, and Cauê Alvez, chief curator of MAM, verified the stolen works in an interview on Fantástico.
Matisse's prints, created during World War II using colored paper cutouts due to the artist's weakened health, mark fauvism and cultural resistance against Nazism. There are 250 copies of 'Jazz' worldwide, with only two in Brazil; this one was acquired in the late 1940s and spurred the creation of MAM-SP. Notably, the album had previously been stolen from the library, discovered in 2006 at the Argentine border in a batch of rare books, and replaced with crude fakes for years until recovered in 2015 following Federal Police expertise.
