France, thieves break into Anselm Kiefer's warehouse, severely damage a work and steal lead parts from it

In France, thieves broke into the warehouse owned by Anselm Kiefer (Donaueschingen, 1945) located near Paris, in Croissy-Beaubourg, and after heavily damaging a monumental lead work by the German artist living in France, stole parts of it. These were probably heavy lead tomes that made up part of the work, but it is unclear which work was targeted by the thieves.

The theft occurred Thursday night before dawn, and, according to the prosecutor of the nearby city of Meaux, Jean-Baptiste Bladier, told the Guardian, “CCTV footage showed four people breaching the parking lot barrier, entering the premises and cutting through the steel fence surrounding the work, before making off with the lead parts of which the work was composed.”

Kiefer estimated the damage at more than $1 million.

This is not the first time thieves have broken into the artist’s warehouse and stolen his artwork. Something similar had in fact happened in 2016, when thieves took away a thirteen-ton stack of sculpture-books, along with several more tons of raw marble. That was about $1.5 million worth of damage. In 2019, on the other hand, thieves had damaged a sculpture in the artist’s warehouse while attempting to take some of his raw lead. In both cases, however, it was speculated that the thieves were more interested in the materials than the sculpture, without understanding the value of the artwork itself. In the most recent case, the same hypothesis was also put forward.

France, thieves break into Anselm Kiefer's warehouse, severely damage a work and steal lead parts from it

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