During a search of an Antwerp basement on Friday, police found two artworks by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso that had been stolen 14 years ago.
The paintings, which feature a man praying in Chagall’s 1970 piece L’homme en prière and Picasso’s 1971 painting Tête, were stolen from the Tel Aviv residence of an art collector in 2010.
According to a statement released by local officials on Tuesday, the works had a combined value of around $1 million at the time of the theft. The two paintings were discovered to be in good shape.
The same crime also included the theft of jewellery valued at about $680,000 from the collector, but the treasure still hasn’t been found.
Authorities were informed by a source that a Belgian citizen in Namur, the Walloon region’s capital city, was selling the artworks, according to the statement.
The suspect, a 68-year-old Israeli watch trader who was located at a Namur address, was the subject of an investigation. However, a significant quantity of cash was found during a search of his home, but the long-lost works were not.
“The checks and police resources implemented during 2023 made it possible to establish that the suspect was indeed in possession of the works sought and that he could have them at his home or at the home of one of his relations,” Belgian authorities said in the statement.
“Although confessing to possessing the paintings, the suspect refused to communicate where he had stored them,” the statement added.
After much searching, they were able to locate the Antwerp residence, where they discovered the paintings intact and still in their original frames.
ARTNEWS
