Search by temporal context
Search by type of dispute resolution process
Search by legal issue
Search by adopted solution
Search by type of object
Search by temporal context
Search by type of dispute
resolution process
Search by legal issue
Search by adopted solution
Search by type of object

Stolen Gauguin and Bonnard paintings recovered after hanging on factory worker's kitchen wall for 40 years

"Impressionist paintings by Gauguin and Bonnard worth over €30m and that were stolen from a house in Regent's Park in 1970 have turned up in the flat of a former Fiat factory worker - who had hung them on his kitchen wall for 40 years, it has been revealed."

"Incredibly, the works by the two French masters are thought to have been taken through France on a train and ended up in Turin in northern Italy only to be left on board. Train staff then stored them in a rail depot until auctioning them off in 1975. It is suggested that an art-loving Fiat factory worker took a liking to them and snapped them up for a very reasonable £25. The paintings, Paul Gauguin's Fruits Sur Une Table and Pierre Bonnard's La Femme Aux Deux Fauteuils, are today worth an estimated €30m and €650,000 respectively. The Fiat employee, who has not been named, first kept the works in his kitchen in Turin, before moving to Sicily when he retired - and there affording the paintings the same position in his new home."

Michael Day, The Independent, 2 April 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/stolen-gauguin-and-bonnard-paintings-worth-over-30m-recovered-after-hanging-in-a-factory-workers-kitchen-for-40-years-9233321.html

Document Actions