![The National Art Gallery of Athens closed, after the 2012 theft of paintings, for a major renovation. [Image Source: Arzu Cengiz/Pixabay]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2021/7/2/660x290/b_502x220x82/the-national-art-gallery-of-athens-closed-after-the-2012-theft-of-paintings-for-a-major-renovation-image-source-arzu-cengizpixabay_2640162.jpg "The National Art Gallery of Athens closed, after the 2012 theft of paintings, for a major renovation. [Image Source: Arzu Cengiz/Pixabay]")
On Monday, June 28, 2021, Greek police reported that artworks were stolen in 2012 from the National Art Gallery of Athens, one of which is Pablo Picasso's Head of a Woman were found in a ravine on the city's outskirts. According to The Washington Post, the Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan's Stammer Mill with Summer House was also found along with Picasso's painting. The paintings had been stored in a plastic bag hidden in the woods until they were discovered Monday, and reporters received more information the following day.
The paintings were taken to police headquarters so that the Minister of Citizens' Protection and the Minister of Culture could proudly present the find.
As noted by BBC News, law enforcement authorities in Greece have found several stolen paintings and detained the alleged thief. The thief is believed to be a local man - a 49-year-old Greek citizen suspected of organizing and committing the robbery. He was arrested, and the case is under investigation.
According to law enforcement officials, the robbery at the time was carefully thought out, and the robber managed to cut out of frames and steal several paintings at once in a matter of seven minutes during an early morning raid. During the chase, the thief dropped Landscape With a Farm by Mondrian but took away two oil paintings and a 16th-century painting. As mentioned by BBC News, the third painting stolen was a pen and ink work by an Italian artist from the 16th century Guglielmo Caccia.
According to police, the suspect admitted to them that the painting was damaged, and he flushed it down the toilet.
Now, nine years later, Pablo Picasso's Head of a Woman and Piet Mondriaan's Stammer mill with summer house will return to the National Gallery of Art in Athens.
Picasso painting found in Athens years after gallery heist https://t.co/U0CU8tHmN6
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 29, 2021Head of a Woman
The painting was done in 1939 in the Franco-Spanish artist's signature style of Cubism.
It is one of several portraits of Picasso's partner Dora Maar. Picasso personally gave this painting to Greece in 1949 "as a mark of respect for the Greek people" for their resistance to Nazi Germany during World War II. It is one of several different works by the artist with similar titles. It is valued at about 19 million euros.
As Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said, Picasso's painting "would have been impossible to sell or exhibit" because it had the Spanish artist's inscription in French on the back: "For the Greek people, a tribute from Picasso."
Stammer Mill with Summer House
The second work of art found by the police is a 1905 painting by the Dutch artist Piet Mondriaan, Stammer Mill with Summer House, which was also presented to the gallery in 1963. By the way, among the stolen paintings could be another of his works, Landscape With a Farm, which miraculously survived the robbery because the thief dropped it during his escape.
