72-year-old woman steals jacket from Picasso Museum in Paris

CAIRO – 8 May 2022: When Catalan artist Oriol Vilanova displayed a jacket full of postcards that visitors could examine at the Picasso Museum in Paris, he had no idea it would be stolen.

A 72-year-old woman took the jacket -which was hanging on the wall- to her place of residence. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, she then re-sized the jacket at a tailor.

Returning to the museum again a few days later, police arrested the woman -who was caught on CCTV putting the jacket in her bag- as they happened to be in the museum looking for clues about the missing jacket.

While in custody, the woman who was said to be "passionate" about art, according to Le Parisien - immediately confessed to stealing the jacket but claimed she did not realize it was a work of art. The police searched her home and found the jacket with resized short sleeves.

After a few hours of questioning, the attorney general's office released the woman with a warning and dropped the case. According to Le Parisien, the woman was placed under guardianship.

Vilanova's artwork, including the jacket, is from the Old Master art series. Its idea is to fill the pockets of a blue jacket with postcards depicting artworks by prominent figures in art history. At the Picasso Museum, the jacket was filled with postcards bought at flea markets and museum stores, all containing pictures of Picasso's artwork.

The jacket appeared alongside a black and white photograph of Picasso in his studio and was presented at the "Picasso à l'image" exhibition that runs until February 12, 2023. It is a thematic exhibition of the museum's collection with archival photographs, films and documentaries.