Recovered Picasso painting welcomed home in Paris

PARIS – The Centre Pomidou welcomed the 1911 Picasso painting “La Coiffeuse” home last week after a prolonged absence from the museum’s archives. The painting, valued at $15 million, was recovered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Operation Toile and was returned to French authorities in Washington, D.C. on August 13.

The event was attended by the French Ministers of Culture and Finance, Jane Hartley, U.S. Ambassador to France, and Steve Andres, HSI Attaché - Paris. Previous cultural repatriations to France included works by Degas, Pissarro and Breton.

HSI plays a leading role in criminal investigations that involve the illicit importation and distribution of cultural property, as well as the illegal trafficking of artwork, specializing in recovering works that have been reported lost or stolen.