When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, Pablo Picasso was a suspect! Why?
Perhaps the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci somewhere between the years 1503 and 1506. The painting is known for being displayed at the French museum The Louvre, where it is still displayed today! However, on August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen!
A poet by the name of Guillaume Apollinaire was initially blamed for the theft because he famously wrote that he thought the Louvre should be burned to the ground! After questioning, Apollinaire tried to pin the crime on his friend Pablo Picasso! Picasso was then brought in for questioning but later released.
Who actually stole the painting? A man by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia was responsible for the theft. Weirdly enough, he worked at the Louvre!
Vincenzo hid the painting in his apartment in Paris.Supposedly, when police arrived to search his apartment and question him, they accepted his alibi that he had been working at a different location on the day of the theft.
After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his apartment in Florence but grew impatient and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence, Italy. Geri's story conflicts with Peruggia's, but it was clear that Peruggia expected a reward for returning the painting to what he regarded as its "homeland." Geri called in Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting. Poggi and Geri, after taking the painting for "safekeeping," informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at his hotel.
