The Vincent van Gogh painting known by the titles of Poppy Flowers and Vase with Flowers was stolen on Saturday from the Mahmoud Khalil Modern Art Museum in Cairo. (Associated Press)Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni has retracted his claim that police recovered a painting by Vincent van Gogh at Cairo International Airport on Saturday, hours after it was stolen from a Cairo museum.

Hosni had told Agence France-Presse that two people were arrested at the airport with the Dutch impressionist master's Vase and Flowers, which is valued at about $52 million.

But he backtracked Saturday evening, saying on a national television news program that "the statement was based on information we received that was false and incorrect."

He said the search for the missing painting, which had been cut out of its frame at Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil Modern Art Museum, continues.

The theft was noticed when the museum opened on Saturday morning.

None of the alarms and only seven of the museum's security cameras were working. Prosecutor general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud blamed the heist on the lax security, calling it "for the most part feeble and superficial."

Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni says the search for the stolen painting continues. (Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)He told Egypt's state news agency on Sunday that his office had warned Egypt's museums to implement stricter controls after nine paintings were stolen last year from another Cairo institution.

Vase and Flowers was stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil Modern Art Museum in 1978 but was recovered two years later in Kuwait. A duplicate later sold for $44 million in London.

The work, also known as Poppy Flowers, measures 30 by 30 centimetres and depicts a vase of yellow and red flowers. It is believed to have been painted by van Gogh in 1887, three years before he died at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The museum also houses works by Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

With files from The Associated Press