30 plus works including Picasso, Matisse stolen

Several artworks including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse have been stolen from an exhibition at a small gallery in Berlin’s Wilmersdorf district.

The etchings, prints and sculptures included “Profil au fond noir,” a 1947 work by Picasso; “Nude in a rocking chair,” a Matisse print from 1913; and “Le Boupeut,” a 1962 color print by Georges Braque.

“The whole exhibition is gone, altogether 25 pictures,” gallery owner Ulrike Erben said on Friday.

“They even took the eight sculptures, one of them weighs almost 50 kilogrammes,” Erben said, concluding that several people must have been involved in the art heist.

More than 30 works — worth an estimated $250,000 — were stolen, apparently between Wednesday afternoon and lunchtime Thursday, police spokeswoman Claudia Schweiger said. The artwork was taking from the Fasanengalerie, a private gallery near western Berlin’s central shopping district.