The four stolen masterpieces

In pictures



The pictures, by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, were among four paintings worth $160m (£82m) that were stolen from Zurich's Emil Buehrle Collection.

They were discovered on the back seat of a white sedan parked outside a psychiatric hospital in the city.

Three masked, armed men took the artworks from the museum last week.

'Good condition'

HOW THE THEFT HAPPENED 1: Zurich police say the three robbers entered the museum just before it shut on Sunday

2: Officers say one of the men used a gun to force 15 visitors and several staff to the floor

3: Police say his two accomplices then seized the four paintings from a ground-floor display hall - according to the museum website, the Music Room

4: Eyewitnesses say the robbers loaded the art into a white vehicle in front of the museum and drove off. It was all over in three minutes, police say



The two recovered paintings are Monet's Poppies near Vetheuil (1879) and van Gogh's Chestnut in Bloom (1890).

They were in good condition and still under the glass behind which they were displayed in the museum, Zurich police commandant Philipp Hotzenkoecherle said.

The two other stolen paintings, Degas's Count Lepic and his Daughters (1871) and Cezanne's Boy in a Red Jacket (1888), are still missing.

Police closed the area around the Psychiatric University Clinic, about 500m from the gallery, on Monday after a suspicious car was found.

The impressionist artworks were identified by museum director Lukas Gloor after a thorough inspection.

After the 10 February robbery, Mr Gloor said the works were so well known that it would be impossible to try and sell them on the open market.

The three thieves who stole the paintings are still at large.

"The severe wound which was inflicted on our house on 10 February has been closed somewhat," said Lukas Gloor, curator of the collection at the museum.