Greek authorities found stolen paintings from artists Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian on Monday in a forest on the outskirts of Athens.
Picasso’s 1939 painting, Woman’s Head, and Mondrian’s 1905 work, Mill, were stolen from the country’s National Gallery in 2012 by a 49-year-old Greek man who confessed to the crime and led police to the stash of stolen art.
“Picasso dedicated the painting to the Greek people. There was a Greek man who took it away. There were Greeks who brought it back,” Citizens Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis said in a Tuesday press conference.
In the early hours of Jan. 9, 2012, the perpetrator stole the art by activating the gallery’s alarm and leading the security guard away from his post to deactivate it. When the guard became aware of the thief’s presence through the gallery’s motion detector, it was too late.
The 49-year-old construction worker, who was arrested on charges of the heist, confessed to the crime and led police to the dry riverbed in the forest where he hid the paintings, which were wrapped in a package and placed under a bush, video released by police showed.
Police believe the suspect acted alone in the theft and hiding of the painting, according to the Associated Press.
Another piece of art the suspect stole in 2012 was a sketch by Italian painter Guglielmo Caccia, who died in 1625. The worker reportedly damaged the sketch during the robbery and subsequently destroyed it, he told police.
Police began closing in on the suspect in early February when they began to believe the paintings were still in the country after nine years, Greek media reported.
The paintings went up for sale on the black market for $20 million, but the burglar could not find a buyer, investigators said.
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The Picasso painting has a special significance to Greece and its people as the cubist artist donated the painting in 1949 as a thank you to the country for its fighting Nazi Germany during World War II, authorities said.
