Two Picasso paintings valued at €50 million were stolen this week from the Paris home of the Spanish painter's granddaughter, Diana Widmaier Picasso, police said today.
Picasso's Maya a la poupee
"The paintings which were stolen are known throughout the world, they've been seen everywhere," Widmaier Picasso's lawyer Paul Lombard said.
The paintings, identified by police as Maya a la poupee (Maya with doll)a 1938 portrait of the artist's daughter, and Portrait de femme, Jacquelinewere stolen on Monday night from her home in the French capital.
Mr Lombard said Widmaier Picasso and a friend had been in the building, a grand house in Paris's smart seventh arrondissement, and the circumstances of the theft were still unclear, with no obvious signs of a break-in. "No one knows the exact circumstances of the theft," he said.
The investigation is being handled by the police's organised crime division. The spokesman said there was no obvious sign of a break-in at the apartment.