A valuable Pablo Picasso painting that disappeared during transport from Madrid to Granada has been found safe after three weeks, thanks to a helpful neighbor who rescued what she thought was an abandoned package. The gouache and pencil work titled "Still Life with Guitar," valued at approximately $525,000, never actually left Madrid as initially believed, according to Spanish authorities.
The artwork was supposed to be part of a shipment of loaned exhibits traveling from Spain's capital to the CajaGranada Foundation on October 3rd for the exhibition "Still Life: the Eternity of the Inert." However, when the delivery van arrived in Granada, museum staff discovered that the 1919 Picasso piece was missing from the collection, prompting an immediate investigation by Spain's National Police.
According to sources close to the investigation who spoke with Spain's Efe news agency, the painting never even left the Madrid building where it was supposed to be picked up. The transport company apparently left the packaged artwork in a building doorway, where it was discovered by a concerned neighbor. The woman, thinking someone had forgotten an important delivery, took the package inside for safekeeping.
The mystery was solved when the neighbor's husband mentioned hearing about the missing Picasso on the news. The woman then checked the package she had been storing and immediately contacted police. "It may never have made it on the van," the National Police confirmed in their official statement announcing the recovery.
The incident exposed significant problems in the art transport process. The CajaGranada Foundation revealed that while some artworks were carefully packaged, they were not properly numbered, making it impossible to conduct a thorough inventory check. Despite this oversight, the delivery was signed off as complete, and the van crew departed for Granada.
Foundation staff spent the weekend with the delivered artworks under video surveillance before beginning the unpacking process on Monday. Once unpacking was completed by the foundation's own staff, the works were distributed to different areas of the exhibition space. It was mid-morning when both the exhibition curator and the foundation's head of exhibitions realized that the small Picasso gouache was missing from the collection.
The National Police's Historic Heritage Unit has kept the investigation open while scientific police examine the recovered artwork. Forensic experts have carefully opened the package containing the painting to verify its authenticity and condition. Despite the highly publicized mishap, sources indicate that the CajaGranada Foundation remains eager to receive the "Still Life with Guitar" so it can be displayed as originally planned in their exhibition.
This incident adds to a long history of Picasso artworks being targeted by thieves worldwide, though this case proved to be more innocent than initially feared. In February 2007, two Picasso paintings worth $50 million were stolen from the Paris home of the artist's granddaughter. Two years later, a Picasso sketchbook valued at more than $8 million disappeared from a Paris museum dedicated to the renowned artist.
The theft problem has particularly affected Picasso's family members, with twelve paintings valued at approximately $9 million stolen from the French Riviera villa of another grandchild, Marina Picasso, in 1989. Museums have also been frequent targets, including a massive 1976 heist in the southern French city of Avignon where more than 110 works were stolen in one of France's largest art thefts ever recorded.
