Hundreds of unknown Picasso works discovered in Paris

An extraordinary cache of hundreds of works by Pablo Picasso, painted during his most creative period and worth a conservative estimate of €60m (£50.5m), has been uncovered at the home of a retired French electrician.

The collection of 271 paintings, drawings, sketches and lithographs, many of which were previously unknown, dates from 1900 to 1932.

Among the works are nine cubist collages worth at least €40m, a painting from his celebrated blue period, drawings and models for some of his most important works and portraits of his first wife, the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova.

French art experts have been poring over the unexpected treasures since they were discovered nearly three months ago. Extraordinary as the collection is, the story of how it was uncovered is almost as sensational and is now at the heart of a police investigation into how the works first disappeared and then remained hidden for almost 40 years.

On 9 September this year, an elderly man calling himself Pierre Le Guennec travelled from his home on the Côte d'Azur to Paris and made his way to the offices of the Picasso Administration, which manages the artist's legacy in rue Volney in the second arrondissement.

He was carrying an unremarkable suitcase and was accompanied by his wife who, like him, is in her 70s.

Read more: Guardian

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