Could a masterpiece vanish into thin air, never to be seen again? The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist remains the largest unsolved art theft in history, a chilling testament to audacious crime and enduring mystery.

On March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts, the unthinkable happened. Two men, disguised as police officers, gained entry to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum under the pretense of investigating a disturbance. What followed was a meticulously executed theft that would baffle investigators and art enthusiasts for decades. The thieves made off with 13 invaluable objects, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer, worth an estimated $500 million.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist remains a haunting enigma, a story of audacious thieves, priceless art, and a mystery that has endured for over three decades. The crime has spawned countless theories involving a dizzying array of suspects, including local petty criminals with mafia ties and a Hollywood connection.

The museum itself, opened to the public in 1903, was the creation of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a visionary art collector. Gardner meticulously curated her collection, arranging it in a way that reflected her unique aesthetic sensibilities. Upon her death in 1924, she left the museum with a $3.6 million endowment (equivalent to about $66 million today), stipulating that the arrangement of the artwork should remain unchanged and that no items should be sold.

The heist began at 1:20 a.m. on March 18, 1990, when the two men dressed as cops knocked on a side door and informed a security guard theyd received a report of a disturbance. The thieves likely succeeded due to canny planning, luck, and lax security. The museum was equipped with motion detectors, so the thieves movements were recorded, but this information has not yet led to a recovery.

Among the stolen artworks were some of the most celebrated pieces in the museum's collection. From the Dutch Room, the thieves cut Rembrandts "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and "A Lady and Gentleman in Black" from their frames. They also removed Vermeers "The Concert" and Flincks "Landscape with an Obelisk" from their frames. These empty frames now serve as a poignant reminder of the treasures that were lost and the void that remains.

The FBI has been actively investigating the case for decades, and has named suspects in the past. The bureau said it believed it had figured out who pulled off the theft of the 13 works of art from Bostons Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The investigation has been an active and aggressive effort, with law enforcement following leads and tracking down potential sources of information around the globe.

In the years following the heist, numerous individuals have been considered suspects. A list of the suspects in the Gardner Museum heist is long and varied. One name that has surfaced repeatedly is Robert Gentile, who was one of the last surviving named suspects in the 1990 theft. Gentile denied having the paintings and refused to cooperate with the FBI, despite being fingered by a widow and raided several times. His death marked the closing of one chapter in the ongoing saga, but the mystery of the missing masterpieces persists.

Rick Abath, the security guard on duty the night of the robbery, has also been a person of interest. His account of the events has been scrutinized, and he has been the subject of intense speculation. Abath has written that he went 17 years without being questioned about the heist, from 1990 until 2007. A video footage captured by museum security cameras 24 hours before the Gardner heist, shows an automobile pull up next to a rear entrance of the museum.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist was and is the largest art theft in history. The $500 million Gardner art heist is still unsolved after thirty years, but the theft has no shortage of suspects.

The loss of these irreplaceable artworks has had a profound impact on the museum and the art world. The empty frames on the walls of the Dutch Room stand as a constant reminder of the crime. Over the past three years, I have visited the museum several times, and each time I entered the Dutch room and saw the empty frames, I was reminded.

The FBI eyed a man as a possible suspect in the Gardner heist in the early 1990s because he was involved in a bungled art robbery in New York a decade earlier that had striking similarities. But the trails went cold. The FBI said in 2015 that the two suspects are now deceased.

Four people leaving a St. Patricks Day party at an apartment building behind the Gardner noticed two men in police uniforms sitting in a car parked outside the museum sometime before the heist. For the past 20 years, a renowned security expert has been trying to crack the biggest, unsolved art heist in history at Bostons Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, when two thieves made off with the priceless pieces.

The Boston Globe's coverage of the 1990 Gardner Museum art theft remains a crucial historical record. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum curator Karen Haas, and museum director Anne Hawley addressed a news conference March 19, 1990, concerning the theft at the museum.

A man suspected of playing a role in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is speaking out for the first time, offering new insights into the events surrounding the crime.

Despite the passage of time, the investigation into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist continues. The FBI, along with Bostons Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the United States Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts, released new information about one of the largest property crimes in U.S. historythe art theft from the museum more than two decades ago.

The thieves removed works of art whose value has been estimated as high as $300 million. The $500 million worth of masterpieces were stolen in the middle of the night from a Boston museum and have never been recovered, nor have any arrests been made.