ART

Thieves bluffed their way into a Rio de Janeiro art gallery and stole artworks including paintings by Salvador Dali and Henri Matisse, a museum official said Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Chacara do Ceu Museum said six men carrying forged police credentials convinced a guard to open the museum, saying they were hunting robbers. The men then tied up the guard and two other staff members, took nine paintings, a drawing, two 7th-Century Chinese terra cotta statues of horses and silverware. Local press reports put the total worth at $10 million and the Dali alone at $1 million. None of the works were insured. Cuts in public spending and Brazil’s economic woes have left many museums with little money for sophisticated alarms.