Art

Picasso’s Electrician Charged with Theft

The body of Picasso’s works were stashed in a garage for forty years until a letter was written to Picasso’s son, asking about the worth of the collection. This letter was written last November by Picasso’s ex-electrician, Pierre Le Guennec, who claimed the collection had been gifted to him by Picasso and his second wife Jacqueline. It was only recently that Le Guennec was formally indicted with possession of the stolen property. Le Guennec will appear before a judge later this month on charges.

According to Var Martin, the Le Guennecs were also gifted with 540,000 francs in 1983. The information was revealed by the Picasso Administration in a formal document. This gift occurs ten years after Le Guennec’s employment as an electrician (1970-1973) with the Picasso family. Inside the collection are never seen before drawings, Cubist works, and a rare painting from the Blue period.

However, Le Guennec is not the only one undergoing investigation. Picasso’s ex-driver, Maurice Bresnu, who himself possessed over a hundred of his employer’s works. Bresnan is Le Guennec’s cousin. Police did retain works from an auction of Bresnu’s own collection this June, but the investigation has not to lead to any evidence of a connection between the cases, except for the obvious and unusual factor of familial relation and stolen goods.