Picasso painting recovered 9 years after theft
ATHENS, Greece — A painting donated to Greece by Pablo Picasso will go back on display at the newly renovated National Gallery in Athens following its recovery more than nine years after it was stolen and the arrest of a 49-year-old construction worker as a suspect.
Authorities said Tuesday that Picasso’s “Head of a Woman” and a work by the Dutch master Piet Mondrian, “Stammer Mill With Summer House,” were stolen in January 2012 from the National Gallery.
They were recovered, wrapped in plastic sheets and hidden in a dry river bed outside Athens after the suspect was detained for questioning.
The Picasso work of a female in cubist style was donated to Greece in 1949 with a dedication “in homage to the Greek people” for their resistance against the German-led occupation in World War II.
“This painting is of special importance and emotional value as the great painter personally dedicated it to the Greek people for their struggle against fascist and Nazi (occupying) forces and bears his handwritten dedication,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said.
“That is why this painting was impossible not only to sell but even to put on display as it would be immediately identified as being stolen from the National Gallery,” Mendoni said.
The National Gallery was recently reopened after a major renovation that lasted nine years and was delayed for months due to the pandemic.
The suspect is a Greek man, police said. They were investigating his claim that a third stolen work, a drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th-century painter Guglielmo Caccia, was damaged and discarded after the 2012 break-in.