Lost and found: Picasso painting discovered in Madrid after exhibition transfer confusion

Published on 24/10/2025 - 13:24 GMT+2

Art marketplace thefts are talk of nan municipality these days pursuing nan notorious heist of nan Louvre museum but Spanish constabulary look to person solved a lawsuit that near detectives scratching their heads for weeks.

Earlier this month, a Picasso coating was reported missing from a Madrid storeroom, from wherever it was meant to beryllium taken to Granada for an accumulation astatine nan Centro Cultural CajaGranada.

'Still Life pinch a Guitar', a mini framed gouache from 1919 was portion of 56 different useful destined for show aft leaving its depot successful nan superior connected 25 September. The carrier cognition was captured by video surveillance.

The full consignment was delivered conscionable complete a week later, nevertheless detectives now opportunity arsenic nan packaging was not decently numbered, it was intolerable to transportation retired an exhaustive cheque without unpacking them.

CajaGranada Fundación explained that circumstantial checks were carried retired and nan consignment notes were signed, pinch nan complete unpacking pending until 6 October, nan day scheduled for nan inauguration. It was precisely connected that time that nan absence of nan Picasso activity was detected. A title was subsequently lodged pinch nan National Police connected 10 October.

Packaging problems

The National Police launched an extended hunt and issued a missing alert for nan coating connected Interpol's world database of stolen aliases missing creation objects, which contains descriptions and images of much than 57,000 items.

When that hunt grounded to move up immoderate important clues, investigators tasked pinch examining nan transportation load recovered discrepancies pinch nan packaging numbers which led them backmost to Madrid and nan missing work.

Forensic constabulary officers inspected nan depot and yet confirmed that it was 'Still Life pinch Guitar'. The main constabulary hypothesis, for now, is that nan painting, weighted astatine €600,000 whitethorn not person made it onto nan carrier lorry astatine source.