In February 1961, the loss of Picasso's Femme dans un fauteuil of 1918 was discovered at the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh

In February 1961, the loss of Picasso's Femme dans un fauteuil of 1918 was discovered at the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh. Painted by Picasso on his honeymoon with Olga Khokhlova near Biarritz, the picture had been lent to the university by the Guggenheim Museum for one semester, but vanished a month before it was due to be returned. The police and the FBI investigated, but the painting was not found. The museum received an insurance payout of 7 thousand dollars, a laughable sum by present-day standards. The painting itself was valued at between 10 and 60 thousand.

And then, in 2023, the picture suddenly resurfaces. It has been established that in 1999 it was bought from a Manhattan gallery by a married couple from Massachusetts. When, in July 2023, the provenance of the Handler collection (such is the name of the new owners) was being checked ahead of a private sale, the name of the Guggenheim Museum turned up in the description of one of the works, which drew attention to the painting. The Guggenheim, naturally, is refunding the insurance money and has filed a suit for a declaration of title, though one might ask what there is to declare. In addition, the museum is demanding compensation of 3.5 million dollars. The new owners are so far evading its return, while the canvas sits in Christie's storage.

Something similar has happened to the same museum before, when a mailroom employee stole Chagall's gouache "The Cattle Dealer", which later turned up in a gallery on Madison Avenue. The buyers pleaded good faith and reproached the museum for years of silence about the loss; the court declined to place the burden of the search on the true owner and to encourage trade in stolen art. Let us see what is decided about the Picasso.