Picasso, Dora Maar portrait stolen in 1999 found after 20 years

The portrait of Dora Maar, also known as Bust of a Woman (Dora Maar), by Pablo Picasso (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, 1973), has been found. It is the painting the Spanish artist made in 1938 depicting his then lover, Dora Maar (Paris, 1907 - 1997), a Croatian-born French photographer, poet and painter, which was part of the artist’s private collection until 1973, the year of his death. It was then purchased bya Saudi sheikh who kept it in his yacht. In 1999, the yacht was docked at the port of Antibes during a stay by the sheikh on the French Riviera, and it was there that the work was stolen.

After a full 20 years, the painting was found by Dutch art expert Arthur Brand, nicknamed the “Indiana Jones of art” for his investigative exploits. Brand’s investigation began in 2015, when he discovered that a Picasso work stolen from a boat had been used as collateral for drug and arms deals in the Netherlands. Brand then carried out extensive investigations that took four years, until, in March, two men working for a Dutch businessman showed up at his Amsterdam abode in the middle of the night, carrying the painting under his arm and wrapped in a garbage bag. After inquiries, the portrait’s authenticity was verified in recent days, thanks to a specialist from the Pace Gallery in New York and the presence of Dick Ellis, a well-known retired British investigator responsible for the finds of other stolen masterpieces, including Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

Claiming that the painting’s owner was unaware that the work had been stolen earlier, Brand promptly informed Dutch and French police, and the painting was turned over to an insurance company.

Pictured: Arthur Brand showing the portrait of Dora Maar.

Picasso, Dora Maar portrait stolen in 1999 found after 20 years

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