12 tons of marble and a sculpture stolen from Anselm Kiefer's studio

Thieves stole 12 tons of raw marble worth €1 million and a sculpture valued at €1.3 million from Anselm Kiefer's studio in Croissy, 25 km from Paris. The perpetrators were quickly identified but released by the court, despite prosecutors seeking a two-year sentence. The theft appears motivated by material value rather than art: the marble and the sculpture's lead components are worth far less than the artwork itself. This echoes a 2008 theft at Kiefer's Barjac studio, where a work was dismantled for its 150 kg of lead, worth only €10,000. The current sculpture also features lead books, with raw material value estimated at €16,700. The incident highlights a trend of thieves targeting industrial materials from artists' studios.