A tiny painting by Pablo Picasso — which measures only five-by-four inches but is worth nearly three quarters of a half million dollars — remains missing after it disappeared earlier this month while in transit from a Madrid museum.
The piece was part of artworks compiled from private collectors and meant for exhibition “Still Life: The Eternity of the Inanimate” at a museum in Granada, some 260 miles south of the country’s capital, according to news reports.
A van carrying dozens of those painting, including the Picasso piece, arrived at the CajaGranada Cultural Center after its four-hour trip on Friday, October 3. But when museum staff opened the crates the following Monday, the Picasso work was not to be found.
The small painting pictures an abstract indoor scene of a guitar lying on a table and is titled Still Life With Guitar.
The painting is insured for $700,000, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
The CajaGranada Foundation contacted Spain’s national police force, which is now investigating. According to the foundation, security cameras showed nothing suspicious occurred during the weekend before the artworks were unpacked.
“An investigation is currently underway, and the investigation is attempting to determine when and where the painting disappeared,” Granada police said in an official statement.
National Police in Granada also been added to the international database of stolen artworks.
According to detectives, the transport van left Madrid on the afternoon of Oct. 2 but made an unscheduled overnight stop in the small town of Deifontes, just miles from Granada, according to a report by ABC News.
That stop is now the key focus of the investigation after the two drivers told police they took turns sleeping in or near the van to watch over the valuable cargo.
“It’s crazy,” Arthur Brand, one of Europe’s best-known art detectives told ABC. “If you’re moving art this valuable, you don’t stop overnight after four hours. You deliver it immediately. Doing otherwise is extremely suspicious.”
Brand, who has worked on numerous major theft cases, also told the network that insider involvement could be in play.
“In many art thefts, there are insiders — people who tip off criminals or are part of the plan,” he said. “Someone with inside knowledge of the schedule or security can make it much easier.”
The art detective also told the network he was optimistic about the heist being solved.
“Spain has some of the best art-crime investigators in the world,” he said. “If anyone can find this painting, they can — and if they don’t, I will. One way or another, it will be found.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
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