The stolen paintings of Gauguin and Bonnard sagged for 40 years in the kitchen of a simple worker

Two works by French artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard, worth millions, were bought by a simple worker on sale for only 360 euros.

In 1975, a worker at the Fiat Automobile Factory walked along the trays at an auction of lost property organized by the Italian National Railway in Turin. The man, whose name was not disclosed, paid 45,000 lire (which now corresponds to approximately 360 euros) for two paintings that attracted his attention - a still life and a girl relaxing in the garden.

For almost 40 years, these two canvases simply hung in the kitchen of a worker, while his son, a student at the Faculty of Architecture, leafing through an art album, noticed a picture incredibly similar to the one that hung in his father’s kitchen. The painting belonged to the brush of Paul Gauguin and, although it did not exactly repeat the canvas that was once bought at the sale, it was very close in style to it.

Then, the father and son, having studied their still life and the paintings of Paul Gauguin in the art catalog under a magnifying glass, turned to the police, realizing that their long-standing acquisition may not be entirely legal. As a result, the paintings were identified as “Fruit on the table or still life with a dog” (1896), Paul Gauguin and “Woman with Two Armchairs” by Pierre Bonnard. The first is estimated at 10 to 30 million euros, the second at about 600,000 euros.

Both canvases were stolen in 1970 in London, from the house of the daughter of one of the founders of Marks & Spencer. One evening, when the owners were gone, three men knocked on the house. They managed to gain the confidence of the housekeeper, as they introduced themselves as employees of a reputable company that produced high-quality engineering products, such as, for example, presented at proftreid.com , and claimed that the landlady herself made an appointment with them. After asking a good-natured woman for a cup of tea, unidentified persons fled from the house, grabbing two paintings and 155,000 pounds.

Currently, the works of Gauguin and Bonnard are in Rome, where research is being conducted to establish the legal owners of the paintings. This question is extremely controversial, since the canvases belonged to Terence Kennedy, an American writer who married Matilda Mark, the daughter of Michelle Mark. Since at the moment all those involved in the paintings are dead, the police are not yet able to establish legal heirs.

Now it will be up to the Italian court to decide who will get the priceless canvases, and the process in this case promises to be long. Perhaps the works of art will go to someone from the large families of Kennedy and Mark (the spouses did not leave direct heirs), but the poor worker from the Italian province believes that the canvases can return to him.