Thief Makes Off With 7 Warhol 'Campbell's Soup Cans' Prints

Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans paintings are perhaps the most instantly recognizable pieces of food-related art since, well, ever. Now, seven are missing, the New York Times reports. A set of 10 pieces was on display at Missouri's Springfield Art Museum, and last Thursday, museum staff arrived for work to find seven of the 10 had been taken overnight.

Collectively, the pieces are set number 31 of the Campbell's Soup I collection, which Warhol made in 1968, six years after his iconic original set of soup cans paintings. While not as valuable as the original collection, which hangs at MoMA in New York, this set is valued around $500,000, and there are approximately only 50 sets left in good condition.

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The set has been part of the museum's collection since 1985, but since the pieces are fragile, they aren't often on display. The thief, or thieves, got away with the paintings of beef, chicken noodle, black bean, tomato, onion and vegetable, but left behind the consommé, pepper pot and cream of mushroom cans (we'd definitely have made off with the consommé, but that's just us). The team at the museum said in statement that the loss "feels like the loss of a family member."

The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to their recovery. Hopefully, this case won't have a long shelf life.