Picasso painting that went missing in Spain recovered by police

A small painting by Pablo Picasso that was said to have gone missing earlier this month on its way from Madrid to an exhibition in Granada has been recovered by police.

The painting, Still Life with Guitar, is owned by a private collector and was being loaned to the Caja Granada Foundation, where it was being transferred with a group of other paintings. It had been missing since October 3.

Investigators had been searching for the missing painting since October 10, when the Caja Granada Foundation filed a report with police. The missing painting was reportedly added to Interpol’s stolen art database, in which French police also recently added the missing jewels from the Louvre Museum heist.

“It may not have ever made it onto the transport truck,” Spain’s National Police said on social media. “The National Police Historical Heritage Brigade is continuing its investigation after forensic police officers inspected the package containing the painting.”

Police shared photos of the small painting being handled by forensic investigators wearing protective gear, presumably not to damage it.

The day it went missing, Still Life with Guitar was scheduled to be picked up by a transport company from a building on Avenida Pío XII but was forgotten in the building’s entrance, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.

Sources close to the investigation told the newspaper that a woman who lives in the building thought it was a package for delivery and grabbed it. Her husband reportedly told her days later that officials were looking for the painting, and they decided to notify police.

Police opened the box, which was still sealed shut, and confirmed it was the painting inside.

The other works transported to Granada for the exhibit “Still Life: The Eternity of the Inert” have reportedly been on view since the show opened October 6.