Who is Vjeran Tomic, The Spider-Man of Paris?

The Parisian museum reported a theft of five paintings from its collection: Pastoral by Henri Matisse, Woman with a Fan by Modigliani, Pablo Picasso's Dove with Green Peas, George Braques Olive Tree near Estaque and Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Léger.

The thief, Vjeran Tomic, is the subject of a new Netflix documentary which features interviews with the man himself. But who is the "modern day Robin Hood" and how did he get caught?

Read on for everything you need to know about Vjeran Tomic, the Spider-Man of Paris.

Who is Vjeran Tomic?

Born in Paris in 1968, Vjeran Tomic was sent to live with his grandmother in Bosnia after his mother became ill.

At just six years old, Tomic told The New Yorker he had developed a "devious tendency".

"I was showing some unhealthy intelligence," he told the publication. Tomic would often play along river banks and became adept at scaling stone bridges.

Tomic pulled off his first robbery when he was 10 years old, by breaking into a library. He climbed through a window and stole two books, each of which were said to be several hundred years old. The books were later returned.

When he grew older, Tomic and his friends found an abandoned warehouse and began squatting there and supported themselves by stealing pieces of glassware.

As time went on, Tomic began stealing from apartments in more affluent neighbourhoods and, by the age of 16, he could scale the façade of a multi-story building with ease.

Tomic practiced the art of parkour-style climbing, and he would scale buildings, climb walls and run from the police on rooftops, from which the nickname The Spider-Man of Paris came about.

In May 2010, Tomic was walking near the Seine when he discovered the Paris Museum of Modern Art.

A week later, Tomic walked out of the museum with five paintings, a Léger, a Modigliani, a Picasso, a Braque, and a Matisse.

What happened to Vjeran Tomic?

In 2011, Vjeran Tomic was arrested and admitted to carrying out the heist. He was accused of cutting through a padlocked gate and breaking a window to enter the art gallery.

Tomic told police officers at the time he had only wanted to take Fernand Léger’s Still Life with Candlestick, but after the alarm failed to go off, he decided to also take the other four.

When questioned, Tomic said he took the paintings because he "liked" them.

In February 2017, after Tomic confessed to the theft, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Tomic and two accomplices were also fined €104 million over the theft of a Matisse, a Picasso, a Braque, a Léger and a Modigliani from the Musée d’Art Moderne, as per The Guardian.

What is the Spider-Man of Paris documentary about?

The official synopsis for Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris reads: "In his own words, the burglar behind the 2010 robbery of the Paris Museum of Modern Art tells how he pulled off the biggest art heist in French history."

Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris will stream on Netflix from 20th October 2023. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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