All posts tagged: Louvre

French Filmmaker Romain Gavras Is Turning the 2 M. Louvre Heist Into a Movie

French Filmmaker Romain Gavras Is Turning the $102 M. Louvre Heist Into a Movie

Published by Jenni Sidey

It was inevitable: The audacious robbery of the Louvre, in which thieves broke into one of the world’s most well-attended museums in broad daylight and stole $102 million in jewels, will now be a film. The new film, set to be directed by rising French filmmaker Romain Gavras, will be adapted from Main Basse sur le Louvre (A Grab at the Louvre), a new book released Wednesday in France by French publisher Flammarion. The book was written by three journalists from Le Parisien, Le Monde, and Paris Match and, according to the publisher, shows how “the theft of artworks has become a business like any other for many criminals,” according to Le Monde. Related Articles The film rights were recently sold to Iconoclast, the production company behind several recent Harmony Korine movies, including his biggest mainstream hit, Spring Breakers (2013), as well as his much maligned Aggro Dr1ft (2023). The production company has also produced most of Gavras’s films, including The World is Yours (2018), and Athena (2022), which played in competition at the Venice International Film Festival …

Louvre’s 0 million jewel heist to be adapted for the big screen

Louvre’s $100 million jewel heist to be adapted for the big screen

Published by Sam Flores

Last year’s brazen robbery of the Louvre — when thieves made off with jewellery worth some $100 million — is set to become a movie, a publisher said on Tuesday. French director Romain Gavras — whose work includes 2025 Hollywood film “Sacrifice” starring Anya Taylor-Joy and music videos including most recently a hypnotic schoolboy choreography for GENER8ION — will draw inspiration from the investigative book “Main basse sur le Louvre” (literally “A grab at the Louvre”). Watch moreThe looted list: Louvre jewels added to international database Film rights to the book about the October 19, 2025 heist had been sold to the production company Iconoclast, the Flammarion publishing house said. The book, written by three journalists, from French dailies Le Parisien and Le Monde, and weekly glossy magazine Paris Match, is to hit bookstores on Wednesday. According to trade magazine Le Film Francais, the movie project is in development, though neither the title nor the cast has been announced. The Louvre heist sent shockwaves around the world and sparked a security crisis within the world-famous …

Architects Behind Frick Renovation Tapped for Louvre ‘New Renaissance’

Architects Behind Frick Renovation Tapped for Louvre ‘New Renaissance’

Published by José Betancourt

The French government announced Monday morning the team of architects who have been selected to overhaul the Louvre in Paris, concluding a protracted selection process marked by staff strikes and the lingering investigation into the jewel heist.  The Paris office of STUDIOS Architecture will lead the project, which includes the creation of new galleries and a new lobby. The firm, an international collective founded in 1985 with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Washington, D.C., has previously worked on a number of high-profile designs in the arts and culture sector: its recent portfolio includes the well-received renovations of the Frick Collection in New York and the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London. Related Articles The competition for the Louvre redesign was announced in early 2025 by French President Emmanuel Macron alongside Laurence des Cars, the museum’s then leader who resigned this past February. A shortlist of five architecture firms was unveiled in October, selected from a pool of more than 100 entrants vying to shape the $778 million renovation …

Ballroom Security Funding Nixed by Senate Authority—and More Art News

Ballroom Security Funding Nixed by Senate Authority—and More Art News

Published by Jenni Sidey

THE LOUVRE’S NEW LEASE ON LIFE. France’s minister of culture has announced the winners of an architecture competition to renovate the Louvre and build a new room to house the Mona Lisa, reports Le Figaro. The winning designer of the project, known as the Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance, is STUDIOS Architecture, a firm that was founded in San Francisco and is now based in Paris. The firm is joined by New York–based architect Annabelle Selldorf, who will design the museum’s interior and recently did the Frick Collection’s renovation. The French agency BASE will spearhead landscaping and urban design. The architecture competition was delayed because it was criticized for being too costly and unnecessary following the October theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre. However, the Louvre’s new president, Christophe Leribault, and France’s culture minister have argued that the project will be reoriented to give greater emphasis on upgrading the museum’s outdated security and safety systems and preserving the former royal palace’s leaking, aging building structure. A press release sums up this approach: “Repair and transform, that is the dual objective.” The renovation is expected to cost 1 …

A Suspect Is Taken into Custody in Decade-Long Louvre Ticketing Scam

A Suspect Is Taken into Custody in Decade-Long Louvre Ticketing Scam

Published by José Betancourt

A Louvre employee was indicted and detained on Wednesday on charges including organized gang fraud as part of an investigation into a scheme to defraud the Paris museum of ticket fees for thousands of visitors. Six others had been placed in custody “because of the communications they may have had with the first defendants,” the public prosecutor said, per Le Monde.  The indicted employee also faces charges of use of forgery, assistance in the entry and circulation of a foreigner in an organized gang, active corruption, aggravated money laundering and participation in a criminal association, according to the paper. The six others, while indicted on the same charges, were released, adds Le Monde, which notes that two others charged with complicity in organized gang fraud, passive corruption, and aggravated money laundering were also released. Related Articles The scheme was uncovered in February, and left the museum with losses estimated at more than €10 million ($11.7 million). The scam involved the sale of counterfeit tickets and the overbooking of guided tours. Nine were arrested, including two …

A Suspect Is Taken into Custody in Decade-Long Louvre Ticketing Scam

Report Accuses Louvre of Deprioritizing Security Prior to Heist

Published by José Betancourt

Alexis Corbière and Alexandre Portier, the French MPs overseeing the government commission investigating the shocking October 19, 2025, Louvre jewel heist, have accused the museum of deprioritizing security at the museum. The full parliamentary report was released today and also casts doubt on French president Emmanuel Macron’s nearly $1 billion plan to revamp the Louvre, which he announced in January 2025 (nine months before the heist) and referred to as a “new renaissance” for the museum, the world’s most-visited art museum.   Related Articles Macron’s visit followed the release of a leaked memo written by Laurence de Cars, then the director of the Louvre (she resigned in February of this year), alerting French culture minister Rachida Dati (who also stepped down in February) of a “proliferation of damage in museum spaces, some of which are in very poor condition.”  As noted in Le Figaro, the damning May 13 report is based on over 20 hearings and roundtables with some 100 insiders, conducted over the past five months. The commission spoke with museum professionals, local officials, …

Man Arrested for Allegedly Planning Terrorist Attack at Louvre

Man Arrested for Allegedly Planning Terrorist Attack at Louvre

Published by Jenni Sidey

French authorities arrested a 27-year-old Tunisian man last Thursday for allegedly planning a terrorist attack at the Louvre in Paris. The news was confirmed by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) and first reported by Le Monde. The arrest was made as part of an investigation into the man’s “participation in a terrorist conspiracy in preparation for crimes against persons” and that he planned “an action inspired by jihadist ideology,” PNAT told Le Monde. The investigation’s findings pointed toward an alleged planned attack at either the Louvre or a site that would’ve impacted the Jewish community in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, per Le Monde, which added that “no precise target had been selected.” Related Articles According to Le Monde, the investigation began in late April when the man, identified as Dhafer M., was arrested in central Paris for driving with a fake license. He was then found to not have the proper documents for residency in France. He was released nine days after the traffic stop as he sought to appeal deportation proceedings. Between his release …

LACMA Responds to Anger Over Pedro Reyes Sculpture—and More Art News

LACMA Responds to Anger Over Pedro Reyes Sculpture—and More Art News

Published by José Betancourt

The Headlines ROUND TWO. A sculpture at the new David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is once again igniting controversy. Tlali (2026), a large stone work by Pedro Reyes, is similar to another piece by the artist from a 2021 project to replace a Christopher Columbus statue in Mexico City that ended up being canceled. In that instance, Reyes’s sculpture depicting an Indigenous woman was rejected because the artist is himself not Indigenous. A similar controversy is now facing LACMA. In an April 23 letter signed by nearly 80 people that was published by the site Cubo Blanco, LACMA is accused of a lack of “memory” for prominently displaying Tlali. A LACMA spokesperson told the Art Newspaper that the new work is “entirely different in purpose and meaning” from the 2021 work for Mexico City, thanks to “a new location, context, and opportunity for discussion.” Michael Govan, the museum’s director, also suggested the new sculpture may not be a female figure at all. “Poignant, androgynous, fragmentary, and mask-like, the work echoes ancient American fragments in our collection, particularly avian and jaguar motifs characterizing …

A Suspect Is Taken into Custody in Decade-Long Louvre Ticketing Scam

Architectural Competition for Louvre Project Set to Relaunch in May

Published by José Betancourt

Originally delayed earlier this year, reportedly amid staff unrest, and later postponed until after the French municipal elections, the jury tasked with selecting the architects for the Louvre Museum renovation is now set to convene in mid-May, Le Figaro reports. Its members will assess five shortlisted architectural proposals, formally launching the $778 million renovation plan spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron. Quoting sources close to the project, the French newspaper reports that jury members are scheduled to meet on May 13, addressing speculation that the initiative could be shelved amid staff shortages and urgent infrastructure needs—all unfolding against a backdrop of leadership upheaval in the aftermath of the Louvre’s high-profile jewel theft. Reportedly compounding the uncertainty, the shortlisted architectural firms were given a tight deadline to finalize their proposals in late January, only to be told that the jury set to hear their presentations had been postponed indefinitely. Related Articles To their presumed relief, it now appears that the architect who will lead the major modernization of the Louvre Museum—including the creation of new galleries …

Louvre Museum Jewel Heist Inspires Latest ‘Law & Order’ Episode

Louvre Museum Jewel Heist Inspires Latest ‘Law & Order’ Episode

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s Ash Wednesday in Brooklyn and two plainclothes detectives are getting coffee from a street cart. They continue walking down the street past a church. As they approach a museum, a commotion ensues. Someone has been shot, and the shooters are on the second floor of the museum, they are told. “Beyond Measure,” the 17th episode of Law & Order’s 25th season, was ripped from the many, many headlines related to the recent Louvre Museum heist, a story that dominated international news for several weeks last fall. In that heist, thieves made off with $102 million worth of jewels and escaped via a cherry picker, with a global manhunt ensuing. Though arrests have been made in the case, the jewels have yet to be recovered. (There is also a bit of a restitution/repatriation side-plot—or something for every art crime enthusiast. Related Articles In the episode, detectives Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) and Theo Walker (David Ajala) chase the shooters through the Brooklyn Museum, a stand-in for the show’s fictional Atlas Museum of Art. In the museum’s …