Did the brilliant and volatile Pablo Picasso donate 271 original works to a French electrician who worked for him? French couple Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec claim the famous painter did, but Picasso’s heirs and a state prosecutor disagree: a French court has begun to question the claim in a three-day trial that will determine whether or not these works were stolen. Picasso’s son Claude states that the idea that his father would have given these away is ridiculous, and that “the works were a part of his life.”
Pierre Le Guennec worked as a general handyman for the famous painter while he was living in southeast France, and around 1970 either Picasso or Picasso’s then-wife Jacqueline purportedly gave the couple 180 lithographs, collages, and paintings, and 91 drawings produced between 1900 and 1932 — valued, in total, at 80 million Euros. Pierre says that Picasso’s wife handed him a closed box containing the works and said “Here, it’s for you. Take it home,” and never spoke of it again, while Danielle recalls her husband coming home with a stuffed trash bag filled with the works, which were given to him by Picasso while the artist was cleaning out his studio. Le Guennec kept the works in his garage until 2010, when he brought them to Paris to have them assessed by the Picasso administration, claiming he was worried the works would cause legal trouble for his grandchildren after he passed away. They were confiscated by the police a few days later.
The case is complicated by the death of witnesses during the 40 years between the Le Guennec’s acquirement of the paintings and their confiscation the administration. If convicted for concealing stolen goods, the Le Guennecs face up to five years in prison and a 375,000 Euro fine.
