Picasso painting worth €600,000 vanishes en route to Granada exhibition

Spanish police are investigating the disappearance of Still Life with Guitar, a small Picasso painting valued at €600,000, which vanished during transit from Madrid to the CajaGranada Foundation’s new exhibition Still Life: the Eternity of the Inert.

The 1919 gouache and pencil work (12.7cm x 9.8cm), loaned by a private Madrid collector, was part of a shipment delivered on 3 October. Upon arrival at 10am, the van’s contents were unloaded and signed off, though some artworks were improperly numbered, making “an exhaustive check” impossible, The Guardian writes. 

The painting’s absence was noticed the following Monday during unpacking.

“Once the unpacking had been done, by the CajaGranada foundation’s own staff, the works were moved to different parts of the exhibition room,” the foundation stated. “Mid-morning that day, the exhibition’s curator and the foundation’s head of exhibitions noticed that one work was missing. The piece is a small gouache by Pablo Picasso, called Still Life with Guitar.”

The foundation reported the missing artwork to the Policía Nacional and stated: “We have also put ourselves at the disposal of those investigating, and we have complete faith that the case will be properly resolved.”

Media reports suggest the van may have stopped overnight near Granada, with crew members taking turns guarding the cargo.

Picasso’s works have been frequent targets for thieves. Notable thefts include a €50m heist in Paris in 2007, a stolen €8m sketchbook in 2009, and a £9m burglary from Marina Picasso’s villa in 1989.

By Sabina Mammadli