In 1911, authorities suspected Pablo Picasso of stealing one of the Louvre’s paintings, The Mona Lisa. But this was entirely a false lead.
Security Gone Wrong
When the Mona Lisa went missing, the Louvre Museum had terrible security. Though it held 250,000 artworks, there were only 150 security guards to protect them. To make matters worse, the paintings weren’t properly secured to the walls. With the Mona Lisa simply hanging on some hooks, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
At the time, the Mona Lisa wasn’t a famous painting at all, but this particular burglary catapulted her to worldwide fame. Soon, everybody had read about the artwork in the news. However, the story took a shocking turn when one of the suspects turned out to be Pablo Picasso.
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais, Wikimedia Commons
Friends In Low Places
You see Picasso did have ties to the world of art theft. His friend, Guillaume Apollinaire had an untrustworthy former secretary, Honore-Joseph Géry Pieret. Pieret had no problem betraying Picasso and Apollinaire for money. The scoundrel tipped off the papers, confessing that he’d stolen artifacts from the Louvre before and sold them to his “friends”.
For the authorities, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Picasso and Apollinaire’s connection to Pieret ultimately landed them both in court, especially since they were in possession of stolen art. The evidence, however, was on their side.
From The Inside
To Picasso and Apollinaire’s relief, the judge did not entertain the case against them, and both were eventually cleared of any connection to the crime. But who actually stole the Mona Lisa? Well, in the end, it was none other than the Louvre’s own employee—Vincenzo Peruggia.
