Yves Bouvier to stand trial after ‘exhaustive’ Picasso probe

A French investigating judge has ordered Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier to stand trial in a Paris criminal court over the alleged disappearance of dozens of Pablo Picasso works belonging to the artist’s stepdaughter, Catherine Hutin, her lawyer confirmed.

“The investigation conducted by the investigating magistrate was exhaustive and meticulous. It concludes without a doubt that the two defendants should be sent to trial before the criminal court,” Hutin’s lawyer, Anne-Sophie Nardon, told Urgent Matter.

Nardon said “the case will therefore be heard in court within several months,” though a trial date has not yet been set.

The art dealer is facing charges related to concealing stolen goods and laundering after Hutin, the daughter of Picasso’s last partner Jacqueline Roque, filed a complaint in 2015 stating that works by the artist were missing from her storage unit operated by Bouvier's company.

Hutin had asked a mutual friend, art dealer Olivier Thomas, to sell a home Picasso owned in Mougins, France, and move the furniture into the storage unit eight years earlier.

As the investigation progressed, Hutin said she discovered that nearly 70 works had gone missing in total. Investigators found some in photographs on a camera owned by Thomas, according to The Art Newspaper, which first reported the story. Thomas will also stand trial on charges of breach of trust, embezzlement and laundering.

Among the missing works are two portraits of Roque and about 60 sketchbook drawings that were later linked to a €36 million sale by Bouvier to Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev, The Art Newspaper reported.

Rybolovlev filed a complaint in the criminal case but withdrew from the proceedings after a 2023 settlement with Bouvier resolved a separate international legal dispute between them.

Bouvier has offered differing explanations for the works, saying they came from the late dealer Jean-François Aittouares while also claiming he paid Hutin $8 million through a Liechtenstein trust under a verbal agreement.

The investigating judge determined in January that there are sufficient grounds for Bouvier to go to trial, noting that “there is not a single element” establishing the involvement of Aittouares and that the payment to Hutin instead corresponded to a previous 2010 sale of 11 paintings.

“However, Mr. Bouvier has produced no evidence or paperwork on the purchase of the works” having disappeared from the storage, concluded the judge.

Bouvier told The Art Newspaper that the trial is “completely unjustified and baseless.”

“The case is ludicrous. Ms. Hutin was paid for the works sold by Mr. Bouvier,” Philippe Valent, his lawyer, told the newspaper. Valent could not be reached for comment by Urgent Matter.

The news comes as Bouvier separately claims his own $100 million art trove is missing.

In filings tied to proceedings in Hong Kong and New York, Bouvier claims he transferred the works between 2015 and 2017 to dealer Pascal de Sarthe under an informal arrangement meant to safeguard and potentially sell the collection during his dispute with Rybolovlev.

He has sought court-ordered access to bank and auction house records in the United States to trace the artworks or any proceeds from their sale. The dispute centers on informal agreements, contested custody and missing documentation.

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