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An urgent manhunt has been launched after thieves stole four paintings from the Renoir Museum in southern France.
The raiders broke into the museum a little before 6am and took four paintings, Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor Bryan Masson said on his Facebook page.
Police spotted the thieves and gave chase, during which they dropped one painting but escaped with the other three, he said.
"Attacking the Renoir museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. These actions are particularly serious," Mayor Masson said in his message.
The museum was created in 1960 in the mansion of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir on a hill in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, where he died in 1919.
The collection on display in the museum includes 13 paintings from the master and some 40 sculptures, furniture and photographs.
Mayor Masson did not identify the paintings that were stolen.
Mr Renoir's most valuable works have fetched dozens of millions of dollars at auctions in the past.
Officers remain at the scene outside the Cagnes-sur-Mer museum
Art thieves in Europe are committing more violent robberies and specialist gangs have been replaced by ad hoc opportunists recruited through social media, pan-European police body Europol said last month.
The heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in October last year was a prime example of this, Europol said, as the thieves threatened guards and visitors and stole €88million (£75.6million) worth of jewels, such as Empress Eugenie's tiara.
Last month, three paintings were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo, near Parma, during the night of March 22 to 23.
Art experts said the paintings by Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse estimated a value exceeded €9million (£7,733,610).
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Carabinieri officers pose with three paintings by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse and Pierre-Auguste Renoir recovered
|HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Over the last two years, art thieves have shifted their attention to precious metals, jewels and cultural artefacts that offer greater profits, the EU's law enforcement agency said in a report.
Europol said: "Offenders are breaching premises and display cases using tools such as sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and, in some instances, explosives."
Where traditional gangs used "deception and stealth", had a central leader and niche expertise, recent thefts were carried out by a decentralised ad-hoc group of profit-seeking opportunists, recruited through social media on a "crime-as-a-service" basis, it said.
Europol added thieves were increasingly targeting gold items from nuggets and coins to jewels.
A ceremonial gold helmet and two gold bracelets were returned to Romania
|GETTY
In January last year, thieves used explosives to steal a g and three ancient gold bracelets from a museum in the Netherlands.
The artefacts were later recovered and returned to Romania, although one bracelet is still missing.
Europol also noted an increase in thefts of ancient Chinese porcelain artefacts such as Ming Dynasty vases due to high demand.