Brazilian police say they have identified the man they believe organized last year’s theft of eight Henri Matisse works from one of São Paulo’s most important libraries, a case that shocked the country’s cultural sector and remains unresolved.
According to Art Review, authorities have named Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva as the alleged architect of the December 2025 theft from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade, Brazil‘s second-largest library. Investigators say Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva coordinated the operation while drawing on a long history of thefts involving rare books, manuscripts, and other cultural artifacts.
The heist unfolded on the final day of an exhibition titled “From Book to Museum,” which had been organized in partnership with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art. Two armed men entered the library shortly after it opened, held a security guard and an elderly couple at gunpoint, and removed works from display cases before fleeing on foot toward a nearby metro station, according to reports at the time.
Among the stolen works were eight Matisse prints from Jazz (1947), the artist’s celebrated portfolio of brightly colored paper-cut compositions. The thieves also took five illustrations by Brazilian modernist Cândido Portinari created for a special edition of José Lins do Rego’s novel Menino de Engenho.
Police quickly identified two suspected gunmen, and one arrest followed shortly after the robbery. The investigation has since expanded. Authorities now allege that Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva organized the theft through a network of intermediaries. Police have also arrested Carlos Leandro Ferreira da Silva and a law student, Regiane Rodrigues da Silva, who investigators say acted as go-betweens between the alleged organizer and the men who carried out the robbery. One of the suspected gunmen remains at large, and the artworks have not been recovered.
Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva was formally identified while already in custody. He has been in prison since April after allegedly attempting to bribe a security guard at Rio de Janeiro’s Rui Barbosa Institute in connection with another planned theft.
The allegations fit a pattern that investigators say stretches back decades. In 1998, Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva was convicted of stealing rare magazines from Brazil’s National Library Foundation, material then valued at roughly $750,000. Authorities have also linked him to thefts from the University of São Paulo, the National Museum, and the Itamaraty Palace in Brasília.
According to police, a voicemail found on the suspect’s phone contained an unusual admission. Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva allegedly described himself as a specialist in rare books, “very valuable, very rare books. I distribute them all over the world.”
Then he added, “I’m getting into the art business now.”
The stolen Matisse and Portinari works remain missing.
