To the art community Pablo Picasso is considered to be one of the most accomplished and inspiring artists of all time.
All of his paintings are highly acknowledged as treasures and influential, and that is why when one of Picasso’s original paintings was stolen, it was regarded as a major crime not only in the art community, but also for the rest of the world.
It was a blessing that the Cubist oil painting was recently discovered almost ten years after it was smuggled out of a storeroom in Paris, and made its way to New York. The painting, which goes by “La Coiffeuse” or “The Hairdresser” is said to be worth millions of dollars, and will be returned to the French Government.
“La Coiffeuse” was painted in 1911, and was originally displayed as part of the Musee National d’Art Moderne collection in Paris. Attorney for the eastern district of New York, Loretta Lynch, went on to express her relief that the painting has been discovered by stating, “A lost treasure has been found. Because of the blatant smuggling in this case, this painting is now subject to forfeiture to the United States. Forfeiture of the painting will extract it from the grasp of the black market in stolen art so that it can be returned to its rightful owner.”
It’s still unsure who is responsible for the paintings disappearance, but when the painting was discovered last December, it had a label describing it as a “handicraft holiday present” and worth 37 American dollars.
Photo By: AP/US Department of Justice
