Picasso works stolen from artist's granddaughter

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 | 4:45 PM ET

CBC Arts

Paris police are investigating the theft of several Pablo Picasso artworks worth more than $60 million US from the home of the artist's granddaughter.

Portrait of Jacqueline, a 1961 oil on canvas by artist Pablo Picasso. Police said Wednesday at least two Picasso paintings, worth a total of $66 million US, have been stolen from the home of the painter's granddaughter, Diana Widmaier-Picasso.
(Succesion Picasso 2007/Associated Press)

Police said Wednesday the works by the cubist master disappeared from the home of Diana Widmaier-Picasso, located in Paris's chic seventh arrondissement, Monday night.

Officials have confirmed that the theft included two well-known Picasso paintings: Maya à la poupée (Maya with Doll), a canvas depicting the artist's daughter (and Widmaier-Picasso's mother, Maya), and Portrait de femme, Jacqueline, an image of the Spanish artist's second wife.

Several Picasso drawings were also reportedly missing.

A spokesman for Widmaier-Picasso told Reuters the home showed no obvious signs of a break-in.

According to experts, the two paintings alone are worth a total of nearly $66 million US.

"It was a very large theft," said Picasso Museum director Anne Baldassari, who did not give any further details.

The prolific and iconic Picasso, who died in southern France in 1973 at the age of 91, continues to be one of the world's most popular and most valuable artists. His early canvas Boy with a Pipe holds the title of most expensive painting ever sold at auction after crossing the block for $104 million US in 2004.

Maya and the Doll, a 1938 oil on canvas by Pablo Picasso. The stolen paintings disappeared overnight between Monday and Tuesday.
(Succesion Picasso 2007/Associated Press)

Picasso's work is often among the most frequently targeted by thieves. According to international agency Art Loss Register, 444 Picasso works are listed as missing. One of the most significant Picasso thefts was that of 118 paintings, drawings and other works from an Avignon, France, museum in 1976.

More recently, Picasso works have been stolen from galleries in Zurich, London and Rio de Janeiro and the Pompidou Centre museum in Paris.

However, art experts have said that stolen works — like Maya with Doll and Portrait of Jacqueline — could never be sold on the open market because the canvases, and the theft of them, are too well known around the globe.