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An extraordinary discovery of 271 never-before-seen paintings by Picasso, has stunned the art world.
The paintings were found at the home of a retired electrician who used to install alarm systems for Picasso’s numerous estates. The discovery was made when the electrician – Pierre Le Guennec – brought the paintings to Picasso’s son for authentication. Now the family is pressing charges against the electrician for hiding stolen goods.
The Washington Post says the discovery is currently valued at $79 million. The paintings included early works from the artistic era of cubism and blue. Individual paintings by Picasso from these eras have sold in excess of $46 million. An art critic for the Telegraph writes these new discoveries might not be Picasso’s best work -- but are nonetheless valuable.
“As for their worth, even a napkin on which the great man doodled could be worth tens of thousands of pounds but highly finished pictures from the cubist period are so rare that the estimate quoted in Liberation of 40 million euros [about $53 million] for all nine would be far too low.”
BBC reports because of the size of the collection the electrician is now facing felony charges. The Picasso foundation says he knowingly waited 30 years – which is the statute of limitations for theft in France -- before revealing the pieces.
REPORTER: “For almost 40 years the treasures have remained hidden in the house of electrician Pierre Le Guennec, who fitted security systems at the painters houses towards the end of his life.”
GUENNEC: “It’s Madame who gave them. But if Madame gave them Messieurs was aware of it. She wasn’t gonna do that just like that would she?”
France 24 reports the electrician’s version of the story might be a little short-circuited. The organization interviews a family member of Picasso’s -- who had this to say:
“He has an amazing amount of artworks. It’s very hard to believe that Picasso would give away 271 pieces… there are no documents showing this man and Picasso were great friends so it’s just not believable.”
A writer for the Washington Post suggests the electrician would be hard-pressed to find anyone supporting his version of the story.
“I'd like to think the artwork-on-a-napkin story is true and that Picasso did hand off 271 pieces of art to his electrician for a light bulb well installed.”
According to ABC news -- because this latest discovery includes never-before-seen pieces, there is no way of telling whether they were stolen or not.
“Though the Art Loss Register keeps tabs on some 900 Picassos -- and 30 fakes -- [ALR Executive Director Christopher] Marinello said there is no way to tell how many more may be out there.”
So what do you think? Would Picasso reward an electrician with his precious paintings? Or was the electrician doing more than just installing light bulbs?
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