A Picasso painting stolen in 1961 was bought by a Massachusetts couple in 1999; now, its original owner is suing them for $3.5 million

A Picasso painting stolen from the University of Pittsburgh more than six decades ago has resurfaced, triggering a legal battle between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and a Massachusetts couple who bought the artwork nearly 40 years after it disappeared.

The Guggenheim is suing Lawrence Jay Handler and Wendy Cohen Handler over Pablo Picasso’s 1918 painting Femme dans un fauteuil (Woman in an Armchair), seeking $3.5 million in compensatory damages. The foundation says it has always remained the rightful owner of the work and accuses the couple of unlawfully withholding it.

Picasso painting disappeared in 1961

The 13.5-by-10.5-inch oil painting disappeared from the Students Union building at the University of Pittsburgh on February 6, 1961. It had been loaned by the Guggenheim for an exhibition and was due to be returned later that month.


The university reported the theft to Pittsburgh police, while the FBI also became involved. News reports, notices sent to institutions across North America and a reward for information failed to recover the artwork, and the case eventually went cold.

At the time, the Picasso was valued at between $10,000 and $60,000.

More than 60 years later, the painting resurfaced in 2023. According to court filings, a researcher at Christie’s alerted the Guggenheim in July 2023 after examining the artwork in connection with a proposed private sale.

Couple bought Picasso in 1999

The Guggenheim alleges that the Handlers purchased the painting from Beadleston Fine Art in Manhattan in 1999.

After learning that the work had resurfaced, the Guggenheim sent the couple a formal demand for its return in August 2023. The request was refused, according to the lawsuit. The painting has remained at Christie’s while the ownership dispute continues.

The lawsuit does not say whether the Handlers or the gallery knew that the Picasso had been stolen when it was purchased.

The Handlers are represented by Withers Art and Advisory. Lawrence Jay Handler is an internal medicine physician, while Wendy Cohen Handler operates the private art and jewelry brokerage Estate Treasures, according to the court filing.

Guggenheim says it is the rightful owner

The foundation says the painting has a documented connection to Solomon R. Guggenheim, who acquired it from London's Gallery Zwemmer in 1936. His name was also included in the provenance entry for the work in Picasso's 1949 catalogue raisonné.

Picasso painted the work during his honeymoon with his first wife, ballerina Olga Khokhlova, near Biarritz. The painting belongs to Picasso's Synthetic Cubist period.

The Guggenheim also received a $7,000 insurance payment from Chubb after the 1961 theft. Following the discovery of the painting in 2023, the museum repaid the insurance proceeds, and Chubb confirmed the restoration of title to the Guggenheim.

A Guggenheim spokesperson said the museum had attempted to resolve the dispute with the people holding the painting and maintained that it was the work's rightful owner.

Picasso painting now believed to be worth millions

The compact canvas is now believed to be worth millions of dollars, a significant increase from its estimated value in 1961.

The Guggenheim is asking the court for $3.5 million in compensatory damages, excluding legal fees, as well as a declaration confirming its ownership of the painting.

The case also echoes an earlier legal battle involving the Guggenheim and another stolen artwork. In the late 1980s, the museum sought to recover a Chagall gouache that had allegedly been taken from its premises by a former mailroom employee. The work was later sold to a couple who said they had bought it in good faith.

The case ultimately settled in 1993 after a court allowed the Guggenheim's claim to proceed, reinforcing the principle that a good-faith purchaser may not necessarily obtain superior rights to stolen artwork over its original owner.

Now, more than 60 years after Femme dans un fauteuil vanished from a Pittsburgh university building, its ownership is once again before the courts.