Modigliani appears in the Paris museum theft dossier and in reporting on a prosecution expert’s assessment of works exhibited in Genoa. The theft of a work and a contested attribution are different issues. An expert opinion within a proceeding should not be mistaken for a final court judgment.
4 reports · Source dates: 11 Apr 2016 — 25 Nov 2025
Each entry reflects its source on the stated date. A historical theft report does not mean a work remains missing. Attributions, allegations and decisions remain distinct; this dossier does not authenticate artworks.
Collector Charles Cahn sued Sotheby’s over Portrait de Léopold Zborowski, which he bought in 2003 as a Modigliani. Cahn alleged that Sotheby’s failed to honour a separate buyback arrangement. Questions about the painting’s attribution also feature in the dispute.
On 20 May 2010, Vjeran Tomic stole Picasso’s Le Pigeon aux petits pois, Matisse’s La Pastorale, Braque’s L’Olivier près de l’Estaque, Modigliani’s La Femme à l’éventail and Léger’s Nature morte aux chandeliers from Paris’s modern art museum. The original article incorrectly says April. Corvez testified that he paid €40,000 for the Léger. Birn agreed to pay €80,000 for the Modigliani and store the others. No reliable confirmation of recovery was found in November 2026. Image shows the Modigliani. See the accompanying court report for sentences and the destruction claim.
A prosecution-appointed expert identified 20 seized works from the 2017 exhibition as forgeries. Exhibition participants disputed the findings. This records expert findings, rather than a final judgment.
Swiss prosecutors secured a disputed Modigliani in a Geneva freeport amid a Nazi-looting ownership claim. The source reports a seizure and investigation, not a completed restitution or a final ownership ruling.
