Paris Drug Bust Recovers Stolen $17 M. Picasso Canvas

Police raiding a house in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne on June 15 got a welcome surprise when they stumbled upon a stolen Pablo Picasso painting.

Though the specific canvas has not yet been identified, it is reported to depict the artist’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, reports Le Parisien, which indicates that the canvas, valued between about $13.7 million and $17.1 million, belongs to a collector from Singapore. It was allegedly stolen by a worker at an art storage facility in Paris, who claims he did it to highlight security flaws, per the outlet.

The police found not only 40 pounds of cannabis resin but also several thousand euro in cash and several hundred thousand euros’ worth of luxury clothing. Four people arrested in the case had their initial court hearing on Friday. The trial is tentatively set for August. 

One of the most storied romances in all of art history began in 1927, when Walter was shopping in Paris and caught the eye of the Cubist painter, who told her, “You have an interesting face. I would like to do a portrait of you. I am Picasso.” She was 17 and ironically was unaware that Picasso was a famous artist; he was 45 and married to Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. They at first kept their relationship secret, but a her distinctive face began to appear in his works shortly after they met. They remained together for eight years. 

Picasso is a market titan, whose auction record stands at $179.4 million, achieved for the 1955 canvas Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) at Christie’s New York in 2015. Some 16 Picasso canvases have sold for more than $50 million, according to art analytics firm ARTDAI.