An auction, which included several works by the 20th century master, Pablo Picasso was cancelled yesterday after questions were raised about the ownership of the lots on offer. The auction of 143 pieces by Picasso belong to the estate of his former driver, Maurice Bresnu, all were dated between 1967 and 1973. The Paris auction house ‘Blanchet and Associates’, connected to the Hotel Drouot auction venue, stated that works, including one of Picasso’s palettes have been withdrawn until further notice. It is thought that this is due to the claims made by a French couple, currently under investigation by the police, for handling stolen goods. The original case came to light, a few weeks ago, when an elderly couple turned up at the Picasso foundation offices with 240 undocumented works, from his Blue and Cubist periods. The works are said to be worth an estimated 50 million dollars. M. Le Guennecs was a former security employee of Picasso, who installed burglar alarms at a number of his properties in the South of France. This latest body of work comes from Picasso’s former driver and was consigned by his estate. It is rumoured that M.Bresnu was a distant cousin of the Le Guennecses which has interested both the police and the Picasso estate.The case gets more involved and intriguing by the day and developments over the next few months will certainly be entertaining.
Further Reading
Picasso Hoard Discovered in Garage