Warsaw, Jan 13 (DPA) Police in Poland have recovered a painting by French impressionist Claude Monet that was stolen nine years ago from a national museum and have detained a suspect, officials said Wednesday.
The suspect, a 41-year-old male from Olkusz, southern Poland, was detained Tuesday, police officials said.
“Only now, after nine years of searching for the person responsible for the theft, have we found the trail and found the stolen painting,” police spokesman Andrzej Borowiak said in a statement.
Monet’s ‘Beach at Pourville’ was stolen in September 2000 from the National Museum in Poznan, Central Poland. The painting was estimated to be worth a million dollars and was the sole work by the French impressionist in Polish collections.
The theft was reported after museum security noticed the original painting – depicting a coastline in Normandy – had been cut out from the frame and replaced with a copy.
