$123M in paintings stolen from museum

PARIS, May 21 (UPI) -- Police in Paris said they are hunting for an art thief who took five well-known paintings, including works by Picasso and Matisse, from a museum.

Investigators said security cameras at the Museum of Modern Art recorded a masked man, who is believed to have cut through a padlock, entering through a broken side window early Thursday and taking "Dove with Green Peas" by Pablo Picasso, "Pastoral" by Henri Matisse, "Olive Tree near l'Estaque" by Georges Braque, "Woman with Fan" by Amedeo Modigliani and "Still Life with Candlestick" by Fernand Leger, the BBC reported Friday.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe called the theft "an intolerable attack on the universal cultural heritage in Paris."

He said one of the facility's alarms had been "partly malfunctioning" since late March.

Museum officials said the paintings, together, are worth an estimated $123 million. However, experts said the works would be difficult to sell because they are so well-known.