Stolen Picasso painting recovered during raid near Paris
French police discovered a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, companion of Pablo Picasso, at the home of the aunt of a suspect linked to drug trafficking. The work, valued at approximately 12 million euros, had been stolen by a night watchman at a Paris warehouse.
Stolen Picasso painting recovered during raid near Paris
French police recovered a stolen painting by Pablo Picasso during a raid conducted in the Paris region. The work depicts a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, the painter's companion in the late nineteen-twenties and through the nineteen-thirties. Authorities discovered it in the home of the aunt of a man suspected of drug trafficking.
According to a police source cited by The Art Newspaper, the theft of this canvas was "opportunistic". The perpetrators, as frequently happens in such matters, did not know how to dispose of it.
Four men were questioned by justice authorities. One of them, employed as a security agent at a warehouse in the French capital, admitted to committing several thefts at the location. It was from this building that the painting had been taken.
The painting is valued at approximately twelve million euros. Before a potential sale to a buyer in Singapore, the authenticity of the work had been confirmed by Claude Picasso, one of the painter's sons, who is now deceased. This information was conveyed by a person close to the investigation, according to The Art Newspaper.
Thefts of Picasso works are not uncommon in the French capital. In 2010, a famous burglary at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris resulted in the disappearance of the cubist canvas Pigeon with Peas (1911), alongside works by Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Fernand Léger. In 2022, a court also convicted two Paris gallery owners for selling Picasso works stolen by a butler from the daughters of Jacqueline Picasso and gallery owner Aimé Maeght.
Source: RTV Slovenija
Source: RTV SLO