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ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece said on Tuesday it recovered a Picasso painting personally donated by the Spanish master to the Greek people, nearly a decade after it was stolen alongside two other works of art in a daring theft at the National Gallery.
“Head of a Woman”, donated by Pablo Picasso to Greece in 1949, was found in Keratea, a rural area about 45 kilometers southeast of Athens, officials said at a press conference.
Police said a 49-year-old builder confessed to stealing the artwork in 2012 and was arrested.
The man said he initially hid them in a house, but recently hid them in thick vegetation in a local gorge. “Today is a special day, (a day of) great joy and emotion,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni told reporters.
Mendoni said the painting would have been “impossible” to sell because it had a personal Picasso inscription on the back – “For the Greek people, a tribute from Picasso”.
The artist had given the Cubist painting to the Greek state in recognition of the country’s resistance to Nazi Germany during a painful occupation of 1941-44.
“This painting is of particular importance and sentimental value for the Greek people, as it was personally dedicated by the great painter to the Greek people for their struggle against fascist and Nazi forces,” Mendoni said.
Another painting stolen during the same robbery in January 2012, “Stammering Windmill” by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, was also found.
According to police sources cited by ANA news agency, the confessed thief had been monitoring security operations at the National Gallery of Athens, Greece’s largest state art collection, for six months previously. The burglary only lasted seven minutes.
Posted in Dawn, June 30, 2021
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