Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ at Heart of Battle in Spain Over Locationhttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5259837-picasso%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98guernica%E2%80%99-heart-battle-spain-over-location
Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ at Heart of Battle in Spain Over Location
A visitor looks at Spanish painter Pablo Picasso's master piece "Guernica" during a press conference presenting the "Year of Picasso" events, marking the 50th anniversary of the painter's death, at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, on September 12, 2022. (Thomas Coex/ AFP)
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Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ at Heart of Battle in Spain Over Location
A visitor looks at Spanish painter Pablo Picasso's master piece "Guernica" during a press conference presenting the "Year of Picasso" events, marking the 50th anniversary of the painter's death, at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, on September 12, 2022. (Thomas Coex/ AFP)
Pablo Picasso's anti-war masterpiece "Guernica" is swept up in a conflict in Spain, where Basque leaders want the government in Madrid to move the painting to their region, whose 1937 bombing inspired it.
The mural-sized painting has been on display since 1992 at the Reina Sofia museum in the Spanish capital, and repeated requests for it to be moved to Spain's Basque Country have been refused.
The latest demand was made by the head of the regional Basque government, Imanol Pradales, during talks with Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The Basque government wants the painting to be hung in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the April 26, 1937, bombing, in which forces from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy razed the town of Guernica to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
Bringing the painting to Bilbao from October until June would be a form of "reparation and historical memory", the Basque government said.
Sanchez -- whose minority government depends on the support of two Basque parties in parliament to pass laws -- did not reject the proposal outright, instead referring it to the culture ministry.
The ministry asked the Reina Sofia museum for a technical report on the viability of the request, which once again "strongly advised" against moving the painting.
The report said the painting is too fragile to travel, citing risks of damage from vibration or movement.
Picasso's black-and-white masterpiece is the highlight of the Reina Sofia museum, which welcomed around 1.6 million visitors last year.
The outspoken head of the regional government of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the conservative Popular Party (PP), weighed in on Monday, calling the request to move the painting "provincial".
"It makes no sense for everything to be returned to its origin. In that case we should send all of Picasso's works to Malaga," she said, a reference to the southern Spanish city where Picasso was born.
- Return from New York -
Asked about the controversy on Tuesday, Spain's central government spokeswoman Elma Saiz said the government relies on the advice of "professionals", referring to the museum report, and "never resorts to insults".
Painted in 1937 in the aftermath of the bombing, "Guernica" debuted in Paris at the World's Fair, then was placed in the care of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
When Franco's forces overthrew the Spanish republic, Picasso stipulated that the painting should not return to Spain until democracy had been restored.
The work was moved to Spain in 1981, six years after Franco's death.
It was first displayed at the Prado museum, then moved to the Reina Sofia in 1992.
Picasso, who died in 1973, never lived to see the painting on exhibit in Spain.
In 1995, Spanish authorities refused to lend it to the Pompidou Center in Paris, citing the damage the work could suffer during its transport.
New Riyadh Exhibition Draws Inspiration from Travels of Ibn Battutahttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5316756-new-riyadh-exhibition-draws-inspiration-travels-ibn-battuta
New Riyadh Exhibition Draws Inspiration from Travels of Ibn Battuta
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Misk Art Institute has announced the launch of its art exhibition "Along the Way," opening on September 16 at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Arts Hall in Riyadh and running through March 31, 2027.
The exhibition features 34 artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world, alongside a rare collection of historical manuscripts.
Drawing inspiration from the travels of Ibn Battuta, the exhibition explores travel as a transformative journey of knowledge and self-discovery, examining themes of maps, wayfinding, memory, and humanity's connection to nature through paintings, sculptures, installation art, and photography.
The exhibition also displays rare historical manuscripts, including the Book of Fixed Stars by Al-Sufi and Nuzhat al-Qulub by Al-Qazwini, which contains a circular world map, alongside an engraved brass astronomical disc from Persia, reflecting Islamic civilization's contributions to navigation and astronomy.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Public Library Showcases Rare Andalusian Heritage Collectionhttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5316374-saudi-arabia%E2%80%99s-king-abdulaziz-public-library-showcases-rare-andalusian-heritage
The King Abdulaziz Public Library has worked to preserve Arab and Islamic heritage, including books, manuscripts, rare items, documents, photographs, and coins. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Public Library Showcases Rare Andalusian Heritage Collection
The King Abdulaziz Public Library has worked to preserve Arab and Islamic heritage, including books, manuscripts, rare items, documents, photographs, and coins. (SPA)
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Public Library has unveiled a rare collection of books and manuscripts on the history of Andalusia, highlighting the Arab-Islamic civilization Andalusia represented in Europe for more than eight centuries, from the conquest in 711 AD to the fall of Granada in 1492.
The library's Andalusian holdings span numerous subjects, including history, literature, poetry, agriculture, arts, culture, and biographies, and are written in Arabic, English, Spanish, French, German, and Latin, totaling 84 titles.
Rare Arabic books on Andalusia reached 13 titles, while rare foreign-language books totaled 71 titles.
Since its establishment in 1985, King Abdulaziz Public Library has worked to preserve Arab and Islamic heritage, including books, manuscripts, rare items, documents, photographs, and coins, providing a rich knowledge base for researchers worldwide.
Renoir Paintings Are Worth a Fortune, but Not When They’re Stolenhttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5316288-renoir-paintings-are-worth-fortune-not-when-they%E2%80%99re-stolen
Painting of "Coco Reading" by French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which was stolen from Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, but was later retrieved, September 8, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a page on the Renoir Museum's website. (Musée Renoir/Handout via Reuters)
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Renoir Paintings Are Worth a Fortune, but Not When They’re Stolen
Painting of "Coco Reading" by French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which was stolen from Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, but was later retrieved, September 8, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a page on the Renoir Museum's website. (Musée Renoir/Handout via Reuters)
Two Renoir paintings stolen from a small French museum have yet to be recovered but if the thieves are hoping to cash in on the artwork, they would be hard-pressed to find a buyer.
Selling well-known, stolen art is impossible to do at an auction house or through other public channels without raising eyebrows. Even under the table, the value plummets. And unlike other eye-catching artifacts such as jewels, paintings can't be chopped up and sold for parts without losing their entire worth.
Art crime experts stress that most buyers simply don't want the liability. In short, the reality looks nothing like the movies.
“People always think that there is this kind of ‘Dr. No’ type from the James Bond movie," said Arthur Brand, a private art detective based in the Netherlands. "But that’s Hollywood. In the real world, there are no collectors like that.”
Brand, who has investigated art crime for about 20 years, explains that often “nobody will touch” stolen art, particularly high-profile work. Sometimes that means paintings valued at millions of dollars are effectively “worth zero” once they're outside of the museum, he added, if not a small fraction of the price.
Tuesday's theft at the Renoir Museum — the last home of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the French Riviera — marks the latest high-profile art crime targeting collections around the world, and experts warn there could be more.
Here's what we know.
Where the Renoirs could wind up
Cagnes-sur-Mer's mayor, Bryan Masson, said a group of “well-equipped” burglars stole a total of four Renoir paintings from the museum in his town on Tuesday. But they dropped two of them — Renoir’s “Portrait of Madame Pichon″ and “Coco Reading" — in the museum garden before they fled, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Police are still searching for the perpetrators. In the meantime, Renoir's “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well" remain missing.
Masson estimated the value of the combined Renoir works stolen Tuesday at 9 million euros ($10.5 million).
But the probability of profiting off such a heist is “extremely low,” said Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. In cases that end in arrests, the common takeaway is that “thieves are people who are good at stealing things and bad at thinking through the consequences,” she added.
Some may try to make money from heists in other ways, such as through demanding a ransom or looking for an insurance payout. But Thompson explains many museums don't have insurance because it's too costly. That's why the practice is so rare in the US, for example, and it would be difficult to negotiate with insurance companies elsewhere without the thieves incriminating themselves.
Painting of "Madame Colonna Romano" by French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which was stolen from Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, September 8, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a page on the Renoir Museum's website. (Musée Renoir/Handout via Reuters)
As a result, if not surrendered or otherwise recovered, stolen paintings may remain hidden or in some cases eventually destroyed to get rid of evidence, Thompson says.
Brand, who collaborates regularly with law enforcement in his art crime investigations, says that he's still seen limited cases of stolen paintings “floating around in the underworld” — perhaps as partial payments for products like drugs. And depending on country-by-country laws, he noted that the promise of returning the art has led to reduced sentences of other charges.
“Some more savvy criminal will acquire it as a get out of jail free card, sort of a bargaining chip,” added Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International. “So, if some drug dealer ever is arrested, he can bargain with the prosecutor and say, ‘Listen, give me a lesser sentence and I’ll show you where these Renoirs are.’ And that has always worked and it will work again.”
Paintings are harder to hide and sell than jewels
Stolen paintings are much more difficult to profit from than museums' other crown jewels — literally.
Jeweled and metal goods have increasingly become a target of theft because they can be melted down or broken down into parts. Last year, a handful of experts warned that could be the fate of the stunning heist of crown jewels at the Louvre Museum in Paris, for example, noting that, if done successfully, smaller pieces could later go up for sale as part of a new necklace, earrings or other jewelry without turning too many heads.
But of course, such pieces would lose their historical worth and, if actually sold, likely only go for a fraction of their original value. Experts also warn that it's far from a simple process overall and gems may still be identifiable by characteristics like clarity, for example.
Apart from an emerald-set imperial crown found outside the museum the day of the October 2025 heist, the stolen jewels remain unrecovered.
Paintings, in contrast, don't have the same commodity value that can potentially be parceled off. “It’s a canvas with some old oil paint on it,” said art theft expert James Ratcliffe, of the Art Loss Register. “You can’t touch it up. You can’t resell it other than for what it is.”
Uptick in art crime overall
Ratcliffe and others note that hasn't stopped thefts of famous paintings and other artwork from museums. Just earlier this year, three pieces by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth millions of euros were stolen in Italy, for example, before being recovered last month.
Ratcliffe notes that smaller museums, in particular, are harder to secure because they might not have the funding necessary to invest in the latest technology or are located in historic buildings that may take more time and effort to install new guardrails.
Still, pressures are piling up, with some warning that future cases of art theft could be likely as vulnerabilities persist.
“We need to change the way we treat small and country house museums before we lose to our cultural heritage permanently,” said Marinello, who stresses that stronger security and enforcement is overdue. “We’re supposed to be preserving our cultural heritage, not allowing criminals to take what they want and using them as shopping malls.”
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