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A Stolen Picasso Just Turned Up During a Drug Raid Near Paris, Reportedly Taken From a Storage Facility
Key takeaways
- Holger Uwe Schmitt via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 French police investigating drug trafficking recently raided a house outside of Paris.
- The artwork, which has been authenticated but not revealed, is worth tens of millions of euros, France’s police force tells Le Parisien’s Denis Courtine, Florian Loisy and Théo Uhart.
- The unseen painting reportedly depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of Picasso’s most famous models.
Holger Uwe Schmitt via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 French police investigating drug trafficking recently raided a house outside of Paris. They found bundles of cash, cannabis, designer clothes—and a stolen Picasso painting.
The artwork, which has been authenticated but not revealed, is worth tens of millions of euros, France’s police force tells Le Parisien’s Denis Courtine, Florian Loisy and Théo Uhart. The raid took place last week in Champigny-sur-Marne. The house in question reportedly belongs to the aunt of a suspected drug dealer, reports Le Parisien.
The unseen painting reportedly depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of Picasso’s most famous models. The Spanish artist met the blonde on the streets of Paris in 1927. She was a teen and he was 45. Picasso watched Walter emerge from the depths of the subway and thought she “had an interesting face,” reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Tessa Flemming in 2023. The artist later claimed he’d dreamt of Walter before they met.