A Romanian woman who is the mother of an art heist suspect has admitted to burning seven artworks thought to have been stolen by her son.

Monet's Waterloo Bridge was among the seven masterpieces stolen

The woman is the mother of suspect Radu Doragu, who is accused of taking part in was has been called the "theft of the century", in which seven masterpieces were swiped from Rotterdam's Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.

"After the arrest of my son in January 2013, I was very scared because I knew that what had happened was very serious," she is reported as saying.

"I placed the suitcase containing the paintings in the stove. I put in some logs, slippers and rubber shoes and waited until they had completely burned."

Included in the burning were Picasso's Tete d'Arlequen, Monet's Waterloo Bridge and Lucien Freud's Woman with Eyes Closed.

Paul Fraser Collectibles has a fantastic signed postcard from Picasso, as well as an autographed letter from Claude Monet.