Pablo Picasso’s ‘Still Life with Guitar’ has vanished. The small, century-old painting was being transported from Madrid to an art exhibition in Granada, Spain, when it went missing. Now, Spanish authorities are scrambling to figure out what went wrong.
The painting was supposed to be part of a 57-piece shipment scheduled for a major exhibit at the CajaGranada Foundation. It left Madrid on the afternoon of October 2, tucked inside a transport van alongside other valuable works.
The route from Madrid to Granada is a 4 to 5-hour drive. Quick enough that an overnight break isn’t needed. But the van carrying Picasso’s painting stopped in the tiny town of Deifontes, less than 20 miles from its destination, and stayed there overnight.
That unexpected stop is now the center of the investigation. The two drivers claim they were resting, saying one of them always stayed close to the van. But investigators aren’t convinced. One private art detective called the decision “extremely suspicious,” and it is not hard to see why.
Crates Arrived, But Something Was Off
The next morning, on October 3, the van arrived at the CajaGranada Foundation. Staff began unloading the crates and moved them into a secured room with cameras running 24/7. But something wasn’t right. The packages weren’t numbered correctly, and staff couldn’t verify the full inventory on the spot.
The News / The missing piece, "Naturaleza muerta con guitarra" (Still Life with Guitar), is a gouache and pencil work on paper that Picasso created in 1919. The work was insured for €600,000 (approximately $700,000).
Even so, they signed off on the shipment after about 90 minutes. The crates sat unopened all weekend. It wasn’t until Monday morning, October 6, that the staff finally opened them and realized something was missing: ‘Still Life with Guitar’ wasn’t there.
Security Footage Shows No Theft at Museum
Immediately, museum staff checked the weekend’s security tapes. Nothing! No one tampered with the crates, there were no break-ins, and no unusual movement was observed. Everything looked calm. That pushed investigators to one conclusion. The theft didn’t happen at the museum. It happened earlier.
That narrows things down to the trip from Madrid to Granada. And more specifically, the strange overnight stop in Deifontes.
Spain’s Policía Nacional is now leading the case, with help from the national art crimes division, Brigada de Patrimonio Historico. They are focusing on the transport timeline, the drivers’ statements, and that mysterious pause in Deifontes.
As we speak, there have been no arrests, no leads, and no signs of the painting.
Art crime expert Arthur Brand, known for recovering stolen masterpieces, said the odds of solving this case are good but not easy. He hinted at a possible inside job, something that is not uncommon in art thefts. If that is true, whoever took it knew exactly what to go for.
What Does the Painting Look Like
GTN / Picasso’s works are often targets. He is the world’s most stolen artist, with over 1,000 pieces missing.
The stolen painting is small, just 5 inches by 3.9 inches. Made in 1919, it is a gouache and pencil piece on paper. It shows a guitar next to simple objects like a bottle and a table, reflecting Picasso’s more restrained period after early Cubism.
It is called ‘Naturaleza muerta con guitarra’ in Spanish. While it is not one of Picasso’s most famous works, it still holds big value. The painting was insured for €600,000, or about $700,000.
Right now, investigators are left with more questions than answers. Why stop overnight so close to the destination? Who had access to the crates during the trip? And how does a tiny painting disappear from a sealed shipment without anyone noticing?