ROBBERS took advantage of Rio de Janeiro’s carnival celebrations to make off with four paintings estimated to be worth $50m (£28.6), including a Picasso and a Matisse, Brazilian police said yesterday.

As a samba band performed outside the Chacara do Ceu museum in the Santa Teresa district, a gang of four gunmen burst in, wielding grenades to threaten security guards and visitors. Two tourists from Australia and a couple from New Zealand were among those briefly held.

The gang then forced the guards to switch off the museum’s security cameras and fled with the paintings, melting into the crowds following the band.

The works stolen were Pablo Picasso’s The Dance, Salvador Dali’s The Two Balconies, Henri Matisse’s Luxembourg Garden and Claude Monet’s Marine.

Vera de Alencar, the museum director, said the robbers had known exactly what they were taking. “Dali’s picture is the only one by him in a public exhibition in Latin America,” she said.

The paintings were considered the most valuable pieces at the gallery. The thieves also took the belongings of several visitors.

Brazilian police said yesterday they were taking measures to prevent the paintings from leaving the country.

The theft came as the five-day pre-Lenten celebration, the world’s biggest street party, got under way late on Friday.

“I give this key to King Momo to launch Carnival 2006. Let the festivities begin!” declared Otavio Leite, the mayor, over the pounding drums and samba music outside the town hall in Rio’s southern Botafogo district.

The newly crowned carnival king, flanked by a carnival queen and princess, shouted to his followers to have the best time of their lives.

The carnival regularly attracts armies of purse snatchers and pickpockets who find easy prey among the revellers. Rio is among the world’s most violent cities, with an annual murder rate of about 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.

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