Mystery of missing Picasso still life painting solved

Art work that vanished en route from Madrid to Granada may never have made it on the van in the first place

Fittingly enough for a still life, it would appear that the small Picasso painting that triggered a police investigation after apparently vanishing while en route from Madrid to Granada for an exhibition earlier this month scarcely moved from its pickup point.

Officers from Spain's Policia Nacional began searching for the gouache and pencil work Naturaleza muerta con guitarra (Still Life with Guitar) after it failed to arrive on a van that was bringing a consignment of loaned exhibits from the capital to the CajaGranada foundation on 3 October.