Recovered Matisse shown in Venezuela after mystery theft

CARACAS - Agence France-Presse

Venezuelan authorities stand guard next to Henri Matisse's painting "Odalisque in Red Pants" during its re-inauguration at the Contemporany Art Museum in Caracas, on July 7, 2014. AFP Photo

A painting by Henri Matisse stolen more than a decade ago in Caracas and later recovered in an FBI sting is on display again in the Venezuelan capital.
      
The "Odalisque in Red Pants", worth around $3 million, was exhibited Tuesday for the first time in more than a decade at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
      
It had been replaced with a fake sometime between 1999 and 2002 and it was only in 2003 that Venezuelan authorities realized the original had been stolen.
      
The artwork was recovered in Miami Beach in 2012 in an FBI undercover operation.         US citizen Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo, a Mexican, were convicted for attempting to sell the stolen painting.
      
Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz told an opening ceremony that his office would pursue an investigation of the theft.
      
"I want to give my word to all lovers of the arts that our office is going to lead an investigation to determine liability for those who conspired to steal this painting," she said.
      
US and Venezuelan authorities cooperated on the case despite tense bilateral relations .
      
Painted in 1925 by the French Impressionist master, the work shows a dark-haired woman sitting on her heels, topless and wearing red pants.