Stolen Picasso’s masterpiece found by 'Indiana Jones of art'

“Buste de Femme” also known as “Portrait of Dora Maar” painted by Picasso has been discovered 20 years after it was stolen in 1999 according to a report by Dutch newspaper Volkskrant on Tuesday.

The painting found by a Dutch art detective worth 28 million U.S. dollars was one of Picasso's masterpieces. It vanished from a Saudi billionaire named Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik al-Sheikh's yacht while being refurbished in Antibes, France. 

“Buste de Femme”

The woman in “Buste de Femme” (Dora Maar) was a renowned photographer and artist. She was Picasso's lover for seven years, and Picasso hung this painting in his room until his death in 1973.

In the 1980s, al-Sheikh bought the painting from the Pace Gallery in New York. It was worth four million euros (about 4.5 million U.S. dollars) back then. After he bought it, it was never seen again.

'Indiana Jones' of art world

Arthur Brand, the Dutchman who found “Buste de Femme” is known as the “Indiana Jones” of the art world.

Brand started to look for the painting in 2015 after he found out the painting had emerged in Netherland. He kept investigating for four years until two intermediaries showed up with the lost portrait in his apartment.

"They had the Picasso, now valued at 25 million euros, wrapped in a sheet and black rubbish bags, with them," he said.

"Everyone assumed it had been destroyed – that's what happens with 90 percent of all stolen art because it can't be put on sale," he told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.

Brand hit the headlines when he discovered a 1,600-year-old mosaic stolen from Cyprus, and in 2015, he found “Hitler's Horse” created by Josef Thorak. 

(CGTN)