Valuable Giorgio De Chirico painting stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Béziers, France

A painting by Giorgio De Chirico (Volos, 1888 - Rome, 1978) has been stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Béziers, France. The theft dates back to Nov. 16, but the news was only released by the museum in the last few hours. It is a painting made by the best-known of the Metaphysical painters in 1926: it is titled Composition with Self-Portrait and is in Béziers as it was once in the personal collection of French partisan Jean Moulin, a native of Béziers who participated in the Resistance in his country. The work, in particular, was located inside the Hotel Fabrégat, one of the two locations of the museum, which opened in 2002.

For now, not many details are known. The custodians, on their reconnaissance tour, found the frame without the painting, removed probably through the use of a box cutter. The case is now being investigated by police in Montpellier, capital of the Hérault department, to which the city of Béziers also belongs. The daily Midi Libre, one of the most widely read newspapers in the Occitanie region, reports that the authorities’ investigation is complicated by the fact that there are no cameras in and around the museum, and thus no recordings to help investigators. The municipality has filed a complaint: mayor Robert Ménard told Reuters news agency that “this painting, because of its fame, cannot be sold on the art market, either in France or abroad.” The work had in fact been cataloged and inventoried in 2015.

Valuable Giorgio De Chirico painting stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Béziers, France

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