Spanish Police Recover Stolen Drawings Made By 19-Year-Old Salvador Dalí

Spanish police have seized two Salvador Dalí drawings that were taken from a Barcelona household in a burglary last January.

The artworks, created with charcoal on brown paper, depict dark rural landscapes. In 1922, the then-19-year-old surrealist painter was commissioned by Catalan author Pere Coromines, a friend of the artist’s father, to illustrate his book, Les Gràcies de l'Empordà.

The Mossos, Spain’s autonomous police force, reveals that officers had arrested and detained three brothers—aged 50, 53, and 55—for their involvement with the crime.

Cops also confiscated five works by Spanish artist Joan Miro, two paintings by Paco Sola, and 55 luxury watches, jewels, gold and silver pens, and coins and banknotes from different eras and countries. They have listed some of these items online in hopes that their rightful owners will come and collect them.

Authorities deduce that the thieves had targeted homes in the Barcelona region that kept art, antiques, and coin collections. According to El País, police finally traced the lost illustrations after thoroughly combing the suspects’ phones and finding the codes for locking and unlocking a door of a storage unit.

Two others were detained for receiving the stolen wares. However, they were freed ahead of their trial, and the three brothers were released on bail before their hearing.

The artworks, verified to be genuine, have been returned to their owners, the descendants of the book author who engaged Dalí’s art skills. 

[via Reuters, The Times, El País, images via Mossos d’Esquadra]