Stolen Chagall and Picasso Paintings Found in Belgium

In the Belgian city of Antwerp, paintings by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, stolen 14 years ago, have been discovered. The artworks, including Picasso's cubist portrait "Tête" from 1971 and Chagall's painting "L'homme en prière" from 1970, were found in the basement of a building in the city, as reported by The Guardian.

Both paintings were stolen from the home of an Israeli collector in Tel Aviv in 2010. At that time, their estimated value was $900,000. During the same burglary, thieves also took valuables worth $680,000 from a safe, which were never recovered.

The more than ten-year search saw a breakthrough in late 2022 when Belgian police received information that the paintings were being offered for sale by a local art dealer in Namur. In a covert operation spanning several months, the police tracked the movements of the 68-year-old Israeli dealer, who was a suspect. Although a significant sum of money was found in his home, the stolen canvases were not located. Despite confessing to the theft, the suspect did not reveal the whereabouts of the paintings.

Eventually, after expanding the search, investigators found two wooden boxes with screw-on lids in the basement of a building in Antwerp, containing the stolen masterpieces. The police announced that the paintings were undamaged and still in their original frames. The main suspect was charged with the theft of the two paintings and was taken into custody.

In related news, The Gaze reported allegations against Vittorio Sgarbi, an official from the Italian Ministry of Culture, presenter, and art critic, regarding the possession of the painting "La Cattura di San Pietro," stolen in 2013. The artwork was taken from Margherita Buzio's castle in Piedmont and was noticed at an exhibition organized by Vittorio Sgarbi in 2021. However, a discrepancy was identified in the exhibited painting—a candle in the corner of the canvas. Law enforcement suspects it was added to divert suspicion from the theft.

Italian journalists discovered that Sgarbi's associate visited Buzio's castle a few weeks before the theft to inquire about the possibility of acquiring the painting. Subsequently, the painting disappeared, and a photograph appeared in the frame in its place.

Vittorio Sgarbi vehemently denies the accusations, insisting that he found the painting in an old estate his mother purchased a decade before the castle's theft. He maintains that his painting is the original, while the stolen one is a copy.