Brazilian Police Identify Man Behind Matisse Theft At São Paulo Library

Brazilian police say they have identified the man they believe coordinated the theft of eight Henri Matisse prints and five Cândido Portinari illustrations from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo. Authorities name Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva as the alleged organizer of the December 2025 robbery, which took place during the final day of the exhibition“From Book to Museum.”

The heist targeted one of São Paulo's most important libraries and unfolded with unsettling speed. According to investigators, two armed men entered shortly after opening, held a security guard and an elderly couple at gunpoint, and removed the works from display cases before fleeing on foot toward a nearby metro station. The exhibition had been organized in partnership with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.

Among the missing works were eight prints from Matisse's“Jazz” portfolio, the 1947 suite of brightly colored paper-cut compositions that remains among the artist's most recognizable late achievements. The thieves also took five illustrations by Brazilian modernist Cândido Portinari made for a special edition of José Lins do Rego's novel“Menino de Engenho.” The artworks have not been recovered.

Police say the investigation has widened beyond the two suspected gunmen initially identified after the robbery. Carlos Leandro Ferreira da Silva and Regiane Rodrigues da Silva, a law student, have also been arrested. Investigators allege that both served as intermediaries between Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva and the men who carried out the theft. One suspected gunman remains at large.

Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva was formally identified while already in custody. He has been in prison since April after allegedly trying to bribe a security guard at Rio de Janeiro's Rui Barbosa Institute in connection with another planned theft. Police also point to a longer record: in 1998, he was convicted of stealing rare magazines from Brazil's National Library Foundation, material then valued at roughly $750,000. Authorities say he has also been linked to thefts at the University of São Paulo, the National Museum, and the Itamaraty Palace in Brasília.

According to police, a voicemail found on his phone included a striking claim. Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva allegedly described himself as a specialist in rare books and said,“I distribute them all over the world.” He then added,“I'm getting into the art business now.”

For investigators, the case now reads less like an isolated robbery than part of a long-running pattern of cultural theft that has moved between libraries, museums, and private channels with alarming ease.

MENAFN01062026005694012507ID1111195005