Stolen Gauguin painting found on kitchen wall
A Paul Gauguin painting stolen from a wealthy collector’s home in Britain decades ago has been recovered after hanging for 40 years on an Italian autoworker’s kitchen wall.
Italian police announced on Wednesday that the painting, along with one by another French artist, Pierre Bonnard, were found at an autoworker’s house in Sicily.
The man, not knowing their origins, bought the paintings at an Italian state railway auction of unclaimed lost items in 1975, for the current equivalent of about 30 dollars.
The paintings were stolen in 1970 and found discarded on a train travelling from Paris to Turin in northern Italy.
The worker hung the paintings in his Turin home before taking them to Sicily when he retired.
Recently his son saw another Gauguin in a book and noticed similarities with the painting in his father’s kitchen. He contacted an art expert, who concluded that the work was most likely a Gauguin.
The painting is titled “Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog” and is believed to have been created in 1889. The Bonnard painting depicts a woman sitting in an armchair. Italian authorities on Wednesday estimated the combined worth of the 2 paintings to be at least 15 million dollars.
Police are investigating the matter and say it is too early to say who will now become the legitimate owner of the paintings.
No comments:
Post a Comment