A Picasso Vanished in 1961. The Guggenheim Now Wants It Back
The museum is suing the current owners of "Femme dans un fauteuil" (1918), which resurfaced decades after it was stolen from the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1961, Pablo Picasso's oil painting "Femme dans un fauteuil" vanished from the Student Union building at the University of Pittsburgh. The 13.5-by-10.5-inch artwork was on loan from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for an upcoming exhibition. The school reported the theft to the police and FBI, but the case remained unsolved for more than six decades.
Recently, the Guggenheim Foundation discovered the painting and is now pursuing legal action against Lawrence Jay Handler and Wendy Cohen Handler, who allegedly purchased it in 1999. The Handlers claim they bought the piece from Beadleston Fine Art in Manhattan, 40 years after it disappeared. However, the Guggenheim learned of the painting's reappearance only in July 2023, when a researcher at Christie's brought it to their attention for a private sale.
The Guggenheim claims the painting was stolen from them and seeks to recover it, demanding $3.5 million in compensatory damages and a court ruling affirming their ownership.
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