This Woman’s So Rich, She Didn’t Even Know A Picasso Had Been Stolen From Her Home For Eight Years

PicassoldLady-Uproxx
Getty/Shutterstock

 

Here’s the story of a woman so rich that she didn’t notice a Picasso painting had been stolen from her home for eight years. Must be nice, right? Don’t worry, she’s working on getting it back.

According to the New York Daily News, the painting in question belongs to “elderly billionaire widow” Wilma Tisch, and is of one of Picasso’s mistresses, Marie-Therese Walter. Picasso painted the portrait in 1928, and its estimated worth is $1 million.

Here’s why Tisch didn’t catch on to the fact that the painting was stolen:

Tisch’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, said his client realized in recent years that the painting was missing from her art studded apartment, but she wasn’t sure where it was, whether in storage or out for repairs. She didn’t report it missing but continued to insure it.

Nikas said Tisch, 88, only learned last week that Hendel, who owns Gallery Art Group in Miami, was offering it for sale when a Manhattan gallery owner alerted her son who called the family lawyers.

I’m no billionaire, but I’m pretty absent-minded about my valuables, as well, so my sympathy goes out to Wilma Tisch. Apparently, her housekeeper sold the painting to an art investor who then sold it through Sotheby’s to Miami art dealer Kenneth Hendel. Hendel had refused to give back the painting, so Tisch took him to court. Now, a New York judge has ordered the painting to be stored at a particular facility until she can conduct a full inquiry into what happened to it.

The housekeeper who apparently sold the painting seems just as clever as the guy in Spain who didn’t show up for work for six years. Alas, she only got $60,000 for the painting.

(via New York Daily News)

×