Improve Everywhere Stages Art Show With Replicas of 13 Masterpieces Stolen From Boston Museum in 1990

The incredibly creative team at Improv Everywhere staged an elaborate faux art gallery show that featured flawless replicas of the 13 priceless artworks stolen during the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist in Boston.

The paintings were exact replicas of the 13 priceless artworks stolen in the infamous Gardner Museum Heist.

To further the illusion, the staff explained that a secret billionaire had loaned these paintings to the gallery and was expecting them back. Unfortunately, the show was cut short when “FBI agents” raided the show and took the paintings with them.

We told guests the art was “on loan” from a secretive billionaire. Of course the collector, curator, gallery staff, and even security were all our undercover actors.

This incredibly credible promotional stunt, which was nominated for a Webby Award, was pulled off in collaboration with the producers of Any Day Now, an independent feature film that tells the full story of the heist.

Thanks to our collaborators, the filmmakers behind the new independent feature film Any Day Now, coming out May 5, across all digital on-demand platforms! Check out the film to dive deeper into the mystery of the art heist that inspired this stunt. 

‘Any Day Now’ Trailer