2. Matisse And A Mysterious Forgery That Were Finally Displayed Together
Venezuela’s Museo de Arte assumes the ‘Odalisque in Red Pants’ had been stolen ‘by’ 2001, and replaced with the forgery; but Marianela Balbi, a Venezuelan journalist who authored ‘The Kidnapping of the Odalisque’, a book about the theft, believes it was taken sometime after it was moved in anticipation of flooding in December 1999, but before mid-2000. The journalist’s book cites museum negligence, but it stops short of accusing corruption officials of being involved. The museum actually does not know the date on which the painting was replaced with its replica – a fact that will forever remain a mystery. The £1.8 million Matisse was rescued by the FBI in 2012, more than a decade after it went missing; but the mystery remains regarding who originally stole the masterpiece; as although the couple who were attempted to sell the painting have since been convicted of the attempted sale of the stolen work, no one has ever been charged with the original theft. read the full story here