Picasso drawings stolen from museum

Someone walks past the display case from where a sketchbook of drawings by Pablo Picasso was stolen. (AFP Photo)

A sketchbook of 32 drawings by Pablo Picasso valued at $11 million has been stolen from a Paris museum, police said Tuesday.

Thieves seized the sketchbook from an unlocked glass case at the National Picasso Museum in central Paris where officials discovered it missing on Tuesday morning, AFP reported.

I don't understand. How is it possible that an $11 million item was displayed in an UNLOCKED glass case? And how is it possible for anyone to sneak into a museum housing Picasso works? In this day and age of endless high-tech security options, not to mention security guards, I just don't understand.

Police said there were no signs of a break-in nor was the alarm set off at the Picasso museum, which houses more than 250 paintings, 160 sculptures and 1,500 drawings by the Spanish artist.

It suggested that the theft may have been a professional job.

Nah...really?

"It was kept in a closed glass casing that could only have been opened using special tools," a ministry statement said.

A hammer would do...but wasn't the case unlocked?

A police source said the theft took place some time between Monday night and early Tuesday and described security at the museum housed in a 17th-century mansion as lax, AFP reported.

Given the value of the items housed by that museum, it's hard to believe--and would be inexcusable, if you ask me--that security there was lax. We're talking Picasso here, for crying out loud...

The sketchbook was stolen from a first-floor exhibition room at the museum located in Paris's fashionable Marais district.

A temporary exhibition by French artist Daniel Buren featuring a large mirror hanging from several rooms at the Picasso museum may have also weakened security, according to investigators. The huge work may have hindered surveillance of the collection at the museum which has also been undergoing renovation over the past months, AFP reported.

The French culture ministry said the 33 crayon drawings dated from 1917 to 1924 and were contained in a medium-sized sketchbook with a red cover marked with the inscription "Album" in gold color, AFP reported.

An official from the French police force specialized in art theft that has been tasked with the investigation told AFP that the drawings could easily be sold on the market for several million euros.

"They can find a buyer," he said.

Well...duh.

Works by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, one of the most important artists of the 20th century, fetch record prices at auctions and are a favorite target of art thieves.

Exactly, which why it's mind boggling that this sketchbook was stolen.

Sources: AFP
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