Do you remember when, in 1999 a Picasso painting was stolen from a secured cabin on board a yacht called Coral Island?
Well now some twenty years after the event it has been found.
At the time of the theft the crew of the yacht were firmly in the frame as suspected suspects but were exonerated if only because a Matisse in the same room had not been touched. Shortly after the Antibes theft, a bust of Dora Maar sculpted by the same artist was stolen from a square in Paris, heightening fears that a gang of art thieves had been at work.
Buste de Femme
Piccasso had painted the piece that was stolen in 1938. He used his mistress Dora Maar, (born Theodora Markovitch in 1907), as his muse and model
The painting became known as the Buste de Femme.
It had been taken from its usual place on board and hsd been crated up ready to be taken ashore before being transported to a bank vault where it would be kept while the yacht went to Barcelona for a refit. The painting was locked away in a an alarmed cabin on the yacht on March 6, 1999. When workers came to fetch the Picasso on March 11, the painting was gone.
A reward of 400,000 euros was offered, for information leradiing to the safe return of the artwork.. But the stolen Picasso was never heard of again until now. when two men knocked at the Amsterdam apartment of respected
Art historian and stolon artwork sleuth Arthur Brand is the man behind its recovery.
According to press reports, Brand first heard about the stolen Picasso in 2015. He put word out to his sources that he would like to help return the painting to the legitimate art world. He eventually learned the painting had switched hands at least 10 times since it was taken.
Never sold
Picasso had never sold the original painting. It always hung in his house and was still there when he died in 1973 at the age of 91. The work was never publicly displayed in a museum, and few photographs were ever taken of it.
Valued on today’s market it is now said to be worth 25 million pounds. It had been purchased in 1980 for 4 million pounds by the Saudi Arabian multi-millionaire Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Sheikh. He later went on to build Coral Island at Lürssen in 1994
Rather like the painting Coral Island, was never seen on display. she was only ever used privately and was never been featured in a magazine. Throughout her life she was beautifully maintained spending several winters at the shipyard in Germany where she was built.
When built, she was one of the first yachts whose interior featured a gym and a spa area. What was a sensation at that time, is now considered as standard today!
Coral Ocean
The 72.5-metre superyacht with her distinctive exterior lines and stunning interior styling is acknowledged as one of the defining masterpieces of the late legendary designer Jon Bannenberg.
Much admired and often imitated, she became Coral Ocean when she was acquired by the Lürssen family whose privately owned shipyards in Germany are considered by many to be the best superyacht builders in the world.
Today the 22 year old lady still looks magnificent! Guests who had the pleasure to cruise in her have been amazed by her beach house style interior.