Following its theft in a brazen daytime burglary in 1985, a painting potentially worth more than $100 million has been returned to an art gallery at the University of Arizona.
As The Arizona Republic reported this month, Woman-Ochre, by Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning, disappeared from the UA Museum of Art in Tucson nearly 32 years ago. Police believe two thieves were responsible for the heist: One of them distracted the museum's security guard while the other cut the painting from its frame.
It's unclear what happened to Woman-Ochre between then and this year, when it turned up in an estate sale in New Mexico. The owner of an antiques shop in Silver City, New Mexico, bought it there and put it in his shop; once people began asking if the painting was a de Kooning, he did some research and got in touch with The Republic, which had previously reported on the theft.
The painting is now back at the UA art museum, where it will undergo evaluation and restoration work before being put on display again. Officials there aren't putting a value on the painting, but a similar de Kooning painting from his Woman series sold for $137.5 million a decade ago.
The FBI and other law enforcement organizations are now attempting to determine who took the painting and how it ended up at a New Mexico home.