The 24 million-euro oil painting 1906 masterpiece, comes from the Cubist master’s “pink period”, features a head of a young woman with long black hair is considered as Spain’s national treasure, French customs said.
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French authorities are waiting for directions from Spanish officials on the matter.
The painting, is owned by Jaime Botin, a well-known Spanish banker whose family owns the Banco Santander.
The work of art entitled “Head of a Young Woman” has been ruled a Spanish cultural asset and wasn’t supposed to leave the country. Jaime Botín, 79, and brother of the late Emilio Botin, was vice president of banking giant and was not on board the vessel, when customs agents on the French island boarded the vessel the following day and found the painting.
The boat’s captain did not carry a permit for the export of the painting and could only present two documents, one of which was the Spanish court ruling that blocked the painting from being taken out of the country.
According to the spokesman, the export demand was also not in Botin’s name.
Pablo Picasso is considered to be the most important figure in 20 century art. He gained popularity for his artistic and abstract style in painting such as cubism.
French customs officials seized a Picasso painting worth €25 million ($41.6 million NZD) over concerns it could be permanently removed from Spain in defiance of an export ban, officials said.
French customs said they had impounded the painting pending an expected request for its return to Spain.
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In May, the legendary painter’s Women of Algiers became the most expensive painting to be sold at an auction, going for $160m at Christie’s in New York.
