Security guard steals Picasso worth an estimated 15 million euros in the Paris region
A painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, valued between 12 and 15 million euros, has been recovered by French police during an anti-drugs operation. The suspected perpetrator of the theft is a 37-year-old security guard.
Security guard steals Picasso worth an estimated 15 million euros in the Paris region
French investigators uncovered a major art theft during an operation originally directed against drug trafficking. In a residence located in Ormesson-sur-Marne, south-east of Paris, they discovered a canvas by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso valued between 12 and 15 million euros.
This discovery took place last Monday, when a unit specialising in the suppression of drug trafficking carried out a search at the home of a woman, the aunt of a suspect linked to drug dealing. It was there that officers spotted the missing work. The newspaper Le Parisien, cited by the source 24ur.com, specifies that it is likely a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, the artist's companion and source of inspiration, painted in 1937.
Shortly after this seizure, a 37-year-old man was taken into custody. He held the position of security agent at a Parisian company responsible for safeguarding artworks of significant value. To investigators, he admitted to being the author of the theft of the canvas from his employer's premises. He gave as his motivation the wish to highlight inadequacies in the establishment's protection protocols.
The investigation made it possible to dismantle a criminal network larger than initially expected. During operations in several sectors of the eastern suburbs of the capital, officers confiscated 17 kilograms of cannabis, a quantity of branded clothing valued at nearly 200,000 euros, as well as 7,000 euros in cash.
Prosecutors at the Créteil public prosecutor's office confirmed that this case constituted a branch of a wider inquiry into drug trafficking. Specialists certified the authenticity of the canvas. Three other individuals were remanded in custody alongside the security guard, and legal proceedings have been initiated. The hearing is expected to take place next August.
The illicit nature of the artwork's disappearance had not been made public, as it was stored in a private facility belonging to a collector residing in Singapore, according to The Independent in an article cited by 24ur.com. Marie-Thérèse Walter, a central figure in Picasso's romantic life and one of the most famous muses in the history of art, met the artist at age 17, when he was 45 years old and still married to Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. This relationship profoundly influenced the painter's artistic output throughout the 1930s.
Source: 24ur