The 2010 Paris Museum Heist: How “Spider-Man” Pulled Off France’s Biggest Art Theft
In the early hours of May 20, 2010, while most of Paris slept, a lone figure scaled the exterior wall of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. There were no ropes, no harness, no safety equipment. Just fingers, toes, and an almost supernatural calm.
Five stories above the ground, one slip meant death.
Within minutes, five masterpieces worth more than €100 million would be cut from their frames and vanish into the night. What followed would become one of the most astonishing — and ultimately tragic — art crime stories in modern European history.
The Climb That Shocked Paris
At 2:47 a.m., the man later identified as Vjeran Tomic began climbing the museum’s stone façade.
Known in French media as “Spider-Man,” Tomic was no ordinary thief. Born in Paris in 1968 to Croatian-Serbian immigrant parents, he had been climbing buildings since childhood. By his teens, scaling five- and six-story apartment blocks was routine. By adulthood, he had turned that ability into a criminal specialty.
On this night, his target was precise.
A broken fifth-floor window — left unrepaired for months — offered entry. He tested each handhold carefully. The stone was weathered, some sections loose. His entire body weight hung from one arm at several points. But he remained composed.
Minutes later, he slipped silently through the broken window and into the darkened museum.
The Target: Five Masterpieces Worth Over €100 Million
Tomic did not wander aimlessly through the galleries. He knew exactly what he wanted.
The paintings targeted were world-renowned works by:
- Pablo Picasso
- Henri Matisse
- Amedeo Modigliani
- Georges Braque
- Fernand Léger
Among them was Picasso’s Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois, valued at approximately €23 million, and Modigliani’s La Femme à l’Éventail, worth an estimated €25 million.
Armed with nothing more than a kitchen knife, Tomic carefully sliced each canvas from its frame. The blade moved steadily along the inner edge, separating century-old fabric from its stretcher. He worked quickly but methodically, pausing occasionally to listen for approaching footsteps.
There were no alarms. No emergency response. No security intervention.
Within 15 minutes, five empty gilded frames hung silently on the walls.
The Inside Job
The theft was not simply a daring climb. It was a carefully planned operation.
Investigators later revealed that Tomic had help from inside the museum. One of the conspirators was Jean-Michel Corvez, a museum watchman responsible for protecting the building.
According to court findings, Corvez provided critical details:
- A fifth-floor window had been broken for months and never repaired.
- Parts of the alarm system were malfunctioning.
- Several surveillance cameras were offline.
- He knew patrol schedules and blind spots.
The middleman who allegedly coordinated the sale was art dealer Jonathan Birn.
The trio believed they had identified the perfect opportunity — a rare convergence of security lapses and insider knowledge.
The Narrow Escape
As Tomic retraced his path toward the window, the plan nearly collapsed.
Two guards conducted an unscheduled patrol in a nearby corridor. At one point, they reportedly passed within meters of the thief. One even noticed an empty frame but dismissed it, possibly assuming the painting had been removed for maintenance.
Tomic waited in silence, concealed behind a sculpture.
When the guards moved on, he climbed back out the broken window and descended five stories with the rolled canvases tucked under his arm.
He walked away undetected.
By sunrise, the biggest art heist in French history had been completed.
The Morning Discovery
On the morning of May 20, museum staff discovered the empty frames.
Shock quickly turned to international headlines. Police launched a massive investigation. The theft dominated global news coverage. The stolen works were immediately placed on international watch lists, making any legitimate sale virtually impossible.
The paintings were too famous to move.
Too recognizable to display.
Too valuable to sell openly.
The Fatal Mistake
According to court testimony, the plan began unraveling almost immediately.
Unable to find a buyer and panicked by global media attention, Birn allegedly made a catastrophic decision. During the 2017 trial, he claimed he destroyed the paintings in a moment of fear — discarding them to eliminate evidence.
French authorities were unable to recover the works. Despite extensive searches, the masterpieces have never been found.
Whether they were truly destroyed or remain hidden somewhere is still debated. Officially, they are considered lost.
Arrests and Sentences
In 2011, police arrested Tomic, Birn, and Corvez. The trial concluded in 2017.
Sentences included:
- Vjeran Tomic: 8 years in prison
- Jonathan Birn: 6 years
- Jean-Michel Corvez: 6 years
The cultural loss, however, was immeasurable.
A Crime That Changed Museum Security
The heist exposed alarming vulnerabilities in museum security systems. Malfunctioning alarms, unrepaired structural damage, and inactive surveillance cameras created the perfect environment for exploitation.
In the years following the theft, French museums and cultural institutions reassessed their security protocols, implementing stricter maintenance oversight and enhanced alarm redundancy systems.
The case remains a cautionary tale about complacency in protecting priceless cultural heritage.
The Legacy of the “Spider-Man” Heist
Vjeran Tomic was eventually released after serving his sentence. His reputation as a daring climber remains part of criminal folklore in France.
But the true legacy of the 2010 Paris Museum heist is not the audacity of the climb.
It is the irreversible loss of five masterpieces that survived wars, occupations, and a century of history — only to disappear in a single night because of human greed and panic.
Sometimes, the most devastating part of a crime is not how it is committed.
It is what happens afterward.
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