The Spanish National Police announced on Friday the recovery of the painting ‘Still Life with Guitar’ by Pablo Picasso, which went missing during transport to an exhibition in Granada on October 3.
“Recovered the missing Picasso during transport for an exhibition in Granada,” wrote the authorities on the social media platform X (Twitter).
Investigators considered the possibility that the artwork “may not have been loaded onto the transport truck.”
However, they noted that the investigation by the National Police’s Historical Heritage Brigade remains open.
The police had been investigating since October 10, after Fundación CajaGranada formally reported the painting’s disappearance, which measures 12.7 cm in height and 9.8 cm in width.
Recuperado el #Picasso desaparecido en su traslado a una exposición en #Granada
Podría no haber llegado a subir al camión de transporte
La Brigada de Patrimonio Histórico de @policia mantiene abierta la investigación una vez que agentes de Policía Científica han… pic.twitter.com/lb5jN8tFvI
— Policía Nacional (@policia) October 24, 2025
Dated 1919, ‘Still Life with Guitar’ was packed along with 56 other works on September 25 in Madrid. The foundation explained that on October 3, the transport company arrived at the cultural center to deliver the pieces, with the process monitored under surveillance cameras.
However, since “not all packages were properly labeled, a thorough verification was not possible,” reported the EFE agency. The entity acknowledged the receipt, and upon checking the artworks on October 6, it was discovered that the Picasso painting was missing.
The paintings were transported in a van occupied by two people. After departing Madrid, they stopped approximately 27 kilometers from their destination, staying at a small hotel. The two individuals allegedly took shifts to watch over the van, according to police sources cited by the Spanish press.
Road trips for transporting artworks comply with various packaging rules and require slow driving speeds to prevent damage to the pieces, as reminded by experts in this type of transport, also cited by the Spanish press.
The Spanish police are investigating whether it was a misplacement or orchestrated theft.
Notícias ao Minuto | 16:29 – 16/10/2025
Following the report, the National Police registered the work in the Interpol database for stolen or missing art objects, which includes descriptions and images of more than 57,000 items.
The packaging of the found package and other circumstances led authorities to suspect that the artwork might be the sought-after Picasso, valued at 600,000 euros.
The identity of the owner of ‘Still Life with Guitar’ has not been revealed so far. It is known only that he is a private collector who acquired the Picasso painting a few years ago for 60,000 euros and kept it at a residence in Madrid.
