Picasso and Portinari Paintings Recovered

Photo by: Marlene Bergamo/Folha Imagem

Two masterpiece paintings stolen nineteen days ago just before Christmas from Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) were recovered today. The report of the paintings recovery came just a few hours ago. Brazilian police reported that they had arrested two men and recovered the invaluable and uninsured pantings by Pablo Picasso and Cândido Portinari.

The paintings were returned to MASP with an escort of armored police vehicles, overhead helicopters and as officers of the state police walked into the museum carrying the paintings, they were met by applause from the staff. MASP will reopen on Friday with the Picasso and Portinari back on the walls where they hung before the thief.

Police feared that the paintings were stolen on contract to an art collector and quickly whisked out of the country to avoid detection. However, the paintings were found in Ferraz de Vasconcelos, a metropolitan area of Sao Paulo where the two men were arrested. The paintings appear to be in good condition although no assessment was reported of possible damage or if the captured paintings are the original works and not stand-ins.

The "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" by Pablo Picasso is estimated to be worth 50 million dollars, and "The Coffee Worker" by Brazil's Candido Portinari is estimated at nearly six million dollars. Both works are important in the canon of works by the two artists. Neither painting was insured, as are any of the paintings in the collection of MASP, prompting a nation debate about the security and administration of Brazil's premier modern art museum collection valued at more than $1 billion dollars.

Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported MASP officials received two ransom requests for the paintings, including a letter asking for $10 million during the period they were missing. The paper is now saying that the two suspects in custody say they were offered $2.8 million to undertake the art heist.

Just before the New Year, state police conducting the investigation said that, based on interviews with the MASP staff that the art thieves had an inside collaborator. One of the museum guards encouraged others during the night shift to sleep and not pay attention to the video monitors installed to alert staff to the threat of thieves entering the building or approaching from the surrounding plaza. Whether this information lead to today's capture of the paintings and arrest is not yet known.