Stolen Picasso Painting Returned to France
'La Coiffeuse' returned to a Paris museum 14 years after it was stolen
Pablo Picasso was a well known figure on the Cote d'Azur, having spent much of his time living and painting in the area.
The Spanish painter was an immensely prolific artist, creating more than 50,000 works in his lifetime. He has become one of the most owned and most sought after artists of history, with his painting Women in Algiers recently selling at a Christie’s auction for $179.3 million - making it the most expensive painting art sale of all time.
And of course, what people can’t own, they can always be tempted to steal.
In November 2001, officials at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris discovered the artwork 'La Coiffeuse' was missing from storage when they went to retrieve it in preparation for an exhibition in India. The work was painted by Picasso in 1911 and last exhibited in Munich in 1998. Having been bequeathed to the French Government it was being stored in Paris.
The stolen work of art was discovered when it arrived in a US shipping facility, having been sent disguised as a Christmas parcel from Belgium containing an 'art craft/toy' valued at just 30 €. The actual value of the painting is a whopping £9.6 million.
During a ceremony at the French embassy, Sarah Saldaña, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officially repatriated the abstract artwork. It was signed over to Frédéric Doré, the Embassy of France’s deputy chief of mission.
