2 Paintings Returned To New Mexico Museum 40 Years After Theft

Two paintings stolen from the University of New Mexicos Harwood Museum of Art nearly four decades ago have finally been recovered and returned to the museum, the FBI announced.

The works, one by Victor Higgins and another by Joseph Henry Sharp, were taken in March 1985 from the Harwood, located in Taos, which at the time operated primarily as a public library with a small museum space on its second floor.

Federal investigators reopened the case last year after being notified in the spring of 2024 that the long-missing paintings had been located. An agent with the FBIs Art Crime Team in the Albuquerque Field Office reviewed documentation from the museum and, after consulting with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Mexico, opened a new investigation. The paintings were recovered and returned to the Harwood Museum on May 12, 2025.

“We are grateful for the cooperation of all parties involved,” said Margaret Girard, Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office. “The recovery of these stolen paintings is a powerful reminder that the FBI continues to commit investigative resources to recover cultural property and return these stolen items to their rightful owners.”

The paintings had been missing for so long that when they were originally stolen, federal law did not yet make such crimes a specific offense. The Theft of Major Artwork statute (18 U.S.C. 668), which makes it a federal crime to steal any object of cultural heritage from a museum, was passed in 1994, nine years after the theft.

The recovery was made possible through the cooperation of multiple individuals and organizations contacted during the investigation, the FBI said. All investigative leads in the case have now been exhausted.

Authorities stressed the importance of reporting stolen art to the FBIs National Stolen Art File Database — a searchable public resource designed to help identify artwork without proper documentation and alert law enforcement to potential thefts.

In 2023, the FBI also launched a free Stolen Art app to help both law enforcement and members of the art community verify whether works of art or antiquities they own, or are considering purchasing, have been listed as stolen.

The Harwood Museum unveiled the recovered paintings to the public during its First Friday event on June 6.