Without a doubt, the most striking thing about the theft from the Picasso Museum in Paris was not the stolen work, but the protagonist of the “crime.”
When we think of theft of works of art from museums very renowned, it comes to mind criminal gangs with infallible planning behind them, they seek to sell the loot on the black market and make any trace of the theft disappear. Many facilities were victims of interested thieveshowever this was not the case for a modern art museum in France.
On March 7, in the Picasso Museum in Parisa curious incident occurred that ended up becoming a strange story of confusion, art and a small oversight. The protagonist of this mess was a 72 year old womanwho, apparently without bad intentions, committed what some considered a “accidental theft“.
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The accidental robbery of the Picasso Museum in Paris
The woman, upon entering the museum, was visiting an exhibition of contemporary art titled “Picasso à l’image“. As is often the case with this type of exhibition, the works are not always easy to understand or perceive as artistic expressions by the public. Some of them require open interpretation, deeper analysis, or simply a different approach than what ordinary people are used to. In this case, one of the pieces not only defied perception, but also took advantage of visitor interaction.
The work in question, titled Old Mastersby the Catalan artist Oriol Vilanovawas part of the exhibition. It was a jacket which invited visitors to touch it, read the postcards it carried in its pockets and, in general, to interact with it freely. In fact, one of the most striking aspects of the work was precisely the absence of protection or alarm systemswhich allowed the public to manipulate it with complete freedom.
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However, this would become a problem when the woman, seeing what she perceived as a simple coat hanging on a hangermade a decision that turned out to be a misunderstanding. In his mind, the garment was a forgotten object, a jacket left there by another visitor. Thinking that he should simply return it to its owner or that someone had left it behind, The woman took it down from its place, folded it carefully and put it in her bag..
The end of this confusing story
Without the security cameras Not even the museum staff noticed her action, the woman left the museum with the “sack” in her possession. Almost inadvertently, the object had been removed from the scene. Fortunately, weeks later, the situation changed. unexpected turn.
When the lady returned to the museum, probably without realizing what she had done, sheThe guards recognized her and they notified the police. Officers arrived quickly to investigate the incident and the woman was arrested. However, as he did not seem to have had bad intentions, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office decided to release her after a few hours of interrogation.
The curious thing was that, when the garment returned to its place, it was noticed that It was missing about 30 centimeters of fabricwhich suggested that the woman had taken it to a tailor to have it adjusted, thinking it was just a forgotten coat that needed some mending.
Source: Ambito
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