The museum collections include about 15,000 works from the art movements of the 20th century. Exhibitions highlight the European and international art scenes of the 20th century, as well as displaying monographic and thematic exhibitions of trends in today's art. Temporary exhibitions run every six weeks.[4]
Robert Delaunay, 1912,La Ville de Paris, oil on canvas, 267 × 406 cm
André Lhote, 1913,L'Escale, oil on canvas, 210 x 185 cm
Raoul Dufy, 1914,Le Cavalier arabe (Le Cavalier blanc), oil on canvas, 66 x 81 cm. At the outbreak ofWorld War I this painting was confiscated from the collection ofWilhelm Uhde by the French state and sold atHôtel Drouot in 1921
Amedeo Modigliani, c.1918,The woman with blue eyes, oil on canvas, 81 x 54 cm
Robert Delaunay, 1915,Nu à la toilette (Nu à la coiffeuse), oil on canvas, 140 × 142 cm
Jean Metzinger,L'Oiseau Bleu (left), André Lhote,L'Escale andDance (center), Albert Gleizes,Les Baigneuses (right), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, March 2014
The theft was investigated by theBrigade de Répression du Banditisme specialist unit of the French Police.[8] It is unclear why the alarm systems in the museum failed to detect the robbery, staff only noticing when they arrived at the museum just before7:00 am.[8][11]
For fear that investigators were closing in on the thief, accomplices apparently destroyed the paintings.[12] "I threw them into the trash," cried Yonathan Birn, one of three people on trial in the case, "I made the worst mistake of my existence." However, neither the judge nor the other defendants believed Birn's statement. The authorities believe all of the paintings were removed from France. Birn's co-defendants testified he was "too smart" to destroy €100 million worth of artwork.[13] The French auctioneer and president of theAssociation du Palais de Tokyo [fr],Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, commented, "These five paintings are unsellable, so thieves, sirs, you are imbeciles. Now return them."
^Gagneux, Dominique (2012).Musée d'Art Moderne. Collection ART DECO. Paris Musée, Les collections de la ville de Paris 2012. p. 66.ISBN978-2-7596-0188-2.