Degas Pastel Stolen in Marseille

One of Degas’ small pastels went missing from an exhibition in Marseille on New Year’s Eve. Estimated at $1.15 million, the stolen work is “Les Choristes” (or “The Chorus”), one of a fraction of the famed French artist’s pieces that doesn’t depict dancers, and instead shows an expressive group of singers taking the stage. A security guard at the Cantini Museum, where the work was on loan from Musée d’Orsay in Paris, was the first to notice it was missing. There appears to have been no break-in and the painting was simply unscrewed from the wall on which it had been hanging. The night watchman who was on duty when “The Chorus” left the building was detained for questioning, but released—one day before the exhibition was scheduled to close and travel to Italy and Canada. But “The Chorus” is still nowhere to be found, nor is the culprit and thus, the show seemingly cannot go on.