Pablo Picasso almost never stopped creating, leaving thousands of drawings, paintings and sculptures that lure crowds to museums worldwide. Now, a retired electrician says that 271 of the master's creations, estimated to be worth at least euro 60 million, have been sitting for decades in his garage.

畢卡索幾乎從未停止創作，他留下的數萬件素描、繪畫和雕塑作品，吸引人潮到世界各地博物館參觀。現在，一個退休電工出面說，大師有271件藝術創作，估計至少值6千萬歐元（約24億台幣），已經藏在他車庫裡數十年。

Picasso's heirs are claiming theft, the art world is savoring what appears to be an authentic find, and the workman, who installed burglar alarms for Picasso, is defending what he calls a gift from the most renowned artist of the 20th century. Picasso's son and other heirs say they were approached by electrician Pierre Le Guennec in September to authenticate the undocumented art from Picasso's signature Cubist period.

畢卡索的繼承人聲稱對方盜竊，藝術界則正在欣賞這次找到的狀似真跡的作品。但幫畢卡索安裝防盜系統的電工辯稱，這是20世紀最有名的藝術家送他的禮物。畢卡索的兒子和其他繼承人說，電工居內克9月間和他們接觸，要為畢卡索最具代表性，但無紀錄可考的立體派時期畫作鑑定。

They filed a suit for illegal possession of the works. Police raided the electrician's French Riviera home last month, questioned him and his wife and confiscated the disputed artworks. Le Guennec and his wife say Picasso's second wife gave them a trunk full of art that they kept virtually untouched until they decided to put their affairs in order for their children. The Picasso estate describes that account as ridiculous. “When Picasso made just a little drawing on a metro ticket, he would keep it,” said Jean-Jacques Neuer, a lawyer for Picasso's estate. “To think he could have given 271 works of art to somebody who isn't even known among his friends is of course absurd.”

他們立刻提出告訴，告對方非法侵占畫作。警方上月突襲搜查電工位於法國里維耶拉的住家，偵詢這對夫妻，並沒收這批有爭議的藝術作品。居內克夫婦說，畢卡索第二任妻子送他們一箱藝術作品，他們幾乎從未碰過，直到他們決定為孩子釐清這件事為止。畢卡索遺產管理委員會認為這種說法荒謬透頂，該委員會的律師諾伊爾說：「畢卡索即使在地鐵票上隨便畫幾筆，都會保留下來。想到他竟把271件畫作送給親友不認識的陌生人，當然啟人疑竇。」

The pieces, which include lithographs, portraits, a watercolor and sketches, were created between 1900 and 1932, an intensely creative period for Picasso after he moved from Barcelona to Paris. Among them are a richly colored hand study; a painting entitled “still life glass sand”; a sketch of his first wife, Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, resting an elbow in a seated pose; and a collage of a pipe and bottle. The collage and eight others in the stash are worth 40 million euros on their own. All of the art is now held by the French agency charged with battling illegal traffic in cultural items.

這些作品包括版畫、肖像畫、水彩畫和素描，創作於1900至1932年間，是畢卡索從巴塞隆納移居巴黎後創作鼎盛時期的作品，其中包括一幅題為〈靜物沙漏〉的畫（圖1）；一幅色彩豐富的手部習作（圖2，均美聯社）；一幅大師第一任妻子、俄國芭蕾舞者娥嘉．科克洛娃擱著手肘的坐姿素描；還有一幅水管和瓶子拼貼畫。光是這幅拼貼畫和其他8幅被藏起來的畫就值4千萬歐元。所有作品目前全被負責掃蕩非法文物買賣的法國當局沒收。

Le Guennec, 71, claims to have worked at three of Picasso's properties in southern France: a Cannes villa, a chateau in Vauvenarges, and a farmhouse in Mougins, the town where Picasso died in 1973. The French daily Liberation, which broke the story, said Le Guennec had installed a security alarm system for Picasso at the farmhouse. Anne Baldassari, president of the Picasso Museum in Paris, said, “We are moved, surprised and intrigued to have found an uninventoried stash of Picasso works. It's a big surprise both in terms of the numbers and the quality.”

71歲的居內克自稱，曾在畢卡索位於法國南部的3個住所工作，包括坎城的別墅、弗梵納格的城堡及慕景的農舍，畢卡索1973年就在慕景鎮過世。率先披露這項消息的法國《解放報》說，居內克為畢卡索的農舍安裝安全警報系統。巴黎畢卡索博物館館長安妮．巴達沙里說：「這批無紀錄可考的畫作能重見天日，我們很感動、驚訝和著迷。這批畫不管質量都是天大的驚喜。」

Le Guennec, wearing a plaid shirt in an interview with France-2 TV outside his modest home, said he was given the trunk by Picasso's second wife and most-painted muse, Jacqueline Roque. “Madame gave them to me. And if she gave them to me, he had to be aware of it,” he said. Roque died in 1986. “It was a small pack like this,” he said, gesturing with his hands as if he was holding a basketball. “It was little drawings, little odds and ends, little pieces of paper. It could have gone in the trash. The master must have been hopping mad. Something didn't suit him, maybe he was angry at someone, and said: ‘Here, give that to the electrician.’”

居內克穿著格子襯衫在樸實無華的住宅外面接受法國2號電視台採訪時表示，這箱畫是畢卡索第二任妻子、也是最常入畫的繆斯賈桂琳．羅克送的。他說：「夫人親手交給我，如果她送給我，他應該也知情。」羅克死於1986年。他比個手拿籃球的手勢說：「這一小包畫差不多這麼大。裡面都是些小圖、小玩意兒、小紙片。本來可能被當垃圾扔掉。大師一定是氣瘋了，不知道什麼事惹火了他，可能他正在生誰的氣，所以大吼：『拿去，送給那個電工。』」

Picasso's son Claude noted that his father was known for his generosity, but that he always dedicated, dated and signed his gifts, as he knew that some recipients might try to sell the works one day. The estate administrators, who pored over the works for about three hours in September, considered that the works might be fakes. But they ruled that out because of the expertise, variety of techniques and the use of certain numbers in the works that no faker was likely to have known, Neuer said.

畢卡索的兒子克勞德指出，他父親素以慷慨知名，但他送畫時總不忘題獻辭、日期和署名，因為他知道，有些受贈者有一天可能試圖賣畫。畢卡索遺產管理委員9月間曾詳細檢視這些畫約3個小時，他們一度認為這些畫可能是贗品。但諾伊爾說，作品中的專業技術、各種作畫技巧和編號，偽造者不可能知道，使他們排除那個可能性。

“My husband was well-regarded by the master,” Danielle Le Guennec said, but noted that the couple was having “a little difficulty” with his son. “He's stabbed us in the back, taken us to court and accused us of theft. He'll have to prove it,” she said. “We're still happy to have our works. We'll see what happens next.”

丹妮葉．居內克說：「我丈夫深得大師信賴。」但也指出夫婦倆覺得他兒子「有點難搞」。她說：「他在背後捅我們一刀，把我們告上法庭，指控我們盜竊。但他要能證明這點。我們還是很高興擁有這批畫。接下來會發生什麼，我們且拭目以待。」

The total number of Picasso works around the world remains unknown, said Baldassari. About 70,000 works have been inventoried among his heirs, but that doesn't include works he sold off or are in museums. Picasso works are among the most coveted among thieves. The Art Loss Register, which tracks stolen, looted or missing art, now lists 702 stolen Picasso pieces.

巴達沙里說，畢卡索在世界各地的作品總數不詳。他的繼承人已清點了其中約7萬件作品，但不包括已經賣掉或在博物館展示的畫作。畢卡索的作品是竊賊最垂涎的目標之一。專門追查被盜搶或遺失藝品的「失竊藝品登錄組織」，目前列出畢卡索有702件作品失竊。