Stolen Picasso returned to France by US officials

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press

‘La Coiffeuse’ was returned to France where it was stolen 17 years ago. Reuters Photo

The U.S. government on Aug. 13 formally returned a painting by Pablo Picasso valued at $15 million that had been stolen from a Paris museum more than a decade ago and seized by immigration officials late last year in New Jersey.

During a ceremony at the French Embassy, Sarah Saldaqa, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officially repatriated the abstract artwork, titled “La Coiffeuse” or “The Hairdresser.” 

The painting was on its way from Belgium to the New York borough of Queens when it was identified and seized in Newark, New Jersey.

Picasso painted “La Coiffeuse” in 1911. The brownish Cubist painting is no bigger than a pizza box.