Popayán Museum Loses Picasso

A valuable etching by Cubist painter Pablo Picasso, valued at $65,000, was stolen last Friday, from a museum in Popayán, Cauca, Colombia. Art collectors on ArtKabinett network were informed yesterday in AK Files about a huge art forgery ring in Germany. Seems like these are perilous times for paintings. The Museum press office alerted the press of the robbery yesterday. The untitled print, signed and numbered by the artist, dates from 1930 -1939. It was reported that it disappeared from the museum on Friday afternoon, minutes after the museum closed to the public. According to the museum's director Oscar Hernandez,the work portrayed the Greek god of wine Dionysus, holding a drunken woman in his arms, with Pan playing his pipes off to the side. It is from Picasso's Classical period and highly sought after by collectors. The print was last seen before two foreign nationals entered the gallery. The work had been donated to the museum in 2004 by the sculptor, Edgar Negret, a Popayan native. The valuable etching was not protected by electronic security and guards were preparing to go home after a long day. The Popayan Museum authorities are offering a $5,000 dollar reward for information that would lead to recovering the print. Many Picassos have been stolen in the past and several have been recovered over the years years. It is difficult to sell a stolen work by the master on the open market, as most works are recorded. A 1904 Portrait of Suzanne Bloch by Picasso was stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art in 2007 and two of his engravings were snatched from a branch of the Pinacoteca Museum in 2008. Valuable art is often used by drug dealers as Collateral. Popayán is located in western Columbia. The works are recorded on the Arts loss register and the etching will be added to this international data-base. Meanwhile two paintings, also by Picasso that were stolen from a Swiss museum exhibition in 2008 have been uncovered in Belgrade, Serbia. The paintings titled Head of Horse and Glass and Pitcher had both belong to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany. The Swiss Government has requested that the paintings valued at $4.3 million £2.7m be returned.