Sisley was a British Impressionist painter, closely associated with Renoir and Monet. On 20 June 1978, at 8.30 pm, a truck was stolen. Inside were around ten masterpieces worth 1.5 billion francs. The transport company responsible for returning the works following a loan had made no security arrangements. On 21 September 1998, ‘The Avenue of Poplars’ was stolen once again. This time, it was the curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nice, Jean Fornéris, who staged his own abduction! Finally, on Sunday 5 August 2007, five masked and armed men held up staff at the Nice museum to steal four paintings, including the Sisley. It was not until 2008, with the help of the FBI – which was also searching for works stolen from the Boston Museum – that the thieves were arrested.