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Picasso pictured two years before he died in 1973. His
works are the most stolen of any artist in history
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A couple appeared in court in France yesterday accused
of stashing some £50 million-worth of stolen Picasso art treasures in their
garage. Pierre Le Guennec, 74, and his wife Danielle, 73, face
up to 10 years in prison for handling the goods, but insist that they were all
‘presents’ from the legendary Spanish artist.
It was in November 2010 that 271 lithographs, cubist
paintings, notebooks and a watercolour were found at their modest home in
Mouans-Sartoux, in the South of France.
In a court
in nearby Grasse lawyers for six of Picasso’s descendants accused them of
hiding the ‘fraudulently obtained’ haul.
Daily Mail reports Mr Le
Guennec, 75, claims he was given the collection by the artist and his second
wife, Jacqueline, when he was an odd job man at their home in Notre-Dame-de-Vie
in Mougins, near Cannes. Mr Le
Guennec installed a burglar alarm at the luxury villa before the artist died in
1973, and said he accepted them as ‘thank you’ gifts.
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Danielle and Pierre Le Guennec arrive at court for the
beginning of their trial in which they stand accused of stashing stolen Picasso
treasures
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Referring
to Picasso, Mr Le Guennec said he ‘often invited me in to have some cake or a
coffee. Me and the master talked about all things great and small. One evening,
I was leaving my work, when Madame handed me a little package saying:
"This is for you".'
But Claude
Picasso, the artist’s son, said that his father was noted for his generosity,
but that he always dedicated, dated and signed his gifts, as he knew that some
recipients might try to sell the works one day.
Jean-Jacques
Neuer, Claude Picasso’s barrister, said: ‘They don’t remember whether they
received the so called gift in 1970, 71 or 72. If you are given 271 Picassos,
you remember it.
‘You have
to imagine that Picasso kept hold of them for 70 years and suddenly decided to
give the lot away. That’s doesn’t make sense.’
The only
document with the name Le Guennec on is a signed brochure for a Picasso
exhibition, said Mr Neuer. adding: ‘When you give a present, you choose
something precise that fits the person.
‘Picasso
here is giving away works that have nothing to do with each other - notably
extremely precious cubist collages that represent 10 per cent of his
production,’ he said.
‘But also
two notebooks of drawings, work tools that he would never have given away. The
issue is not whether Picasso was generous or not. Picasso wasn’t someone who
was careless about his works – he didn’t give away just for the sake of it.’
Charles-Etienne
Gudin, lawyer for the couple, said the works came from the artist’s
‘Grands-Augustins’ studio on Paris’s Left Bank.
He said
that Mr Le Guennec would never have stolen the Picasso’s villa, describing it
as a ‘fortress’ watched over night and day by security guards.
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A painting of a hand by Picasso that was among 271
undocumented, never-before-seen works estimated to be worth at least £50million
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The trial,
which is due to last three weeks, comes after Marina Picasso, the artist’s
granddaughter, said she was selling off the famous villa, along with a
selection of his work, for up to £190m.
Ms Picasso
wrote a memoir ‘Picasso: My Grandfather’ in 2001, in which she accused him of
destroying her childhood. Picasso’s works are the most stolen of any artist in
history.
He
has more than 1,000 paintings registered as taken unlawfully, missing or
disputed.
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