A painting by French post-impressionist Henri Matisse, which was stolen from a museum in Stockholm 25 years ago, has been recovered and will be returned to Sweden shortly, the London-based Art Loss Register (ALR) said Monday.
Le Jardin, or The Garden, painted in 1920, was taken from the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm during a robbery on May 11, 1987. It is estimated to be worth 620,000 pounds (1 million dollars), the ALR said.
"The New Year brought a pleasant surprise to the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm," said ALR director Christopher Marinello. The ALR, a database of stolen, missing and looted artwork had been searching the market for the painting for the last 22 years.
A statement said that a few weeks ago there was a search against its database from a fine art dealer in Essex, southern England, who was carrying out an investigation into a sale before handling the Matisse.
Once the match was confirmed, the recovery was handed to Marinello, who took over the negotiations to return the painting.
He said that Lars Nittive, the director of Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art in 1987, was absolutely correct when he told reporters at the time that the painting was too well known to sell on the open market.
"I commend the museum for not giving in to ransom demands a quarter century ago. Stolen artwork has no real value in the legitimate marketplace and will eventually resurface ... it's just a matter of waiting it out," said Marinello.