A Montreal art collector found himself in spite of himself at the heart of a criminal investigation since he possessed, probably without knowing it, works by the famous painters Borduas and Riopelle, stolen 25 years ago.
The great art lover, who agreed to tell us his story in exchange for his anonymity, has a bitter taste for this interminable investigation which ended this week.
The story dates back to 2004, when he acquired “L’autel aux idolâtres”, an oil on canvas painted in 1946 by Paul-Émile Borduas, and “Plumage d’Or”, produced in 1988 by Jean-Paul Riopelle. , in a gallery in the metropolis.
Courtesy picture
The altar to idolaters, by Paul-Émile Borduas, was stolen from Jean-Paul Riopelle in 1997.
“If I remember correctly, I paid around $40,000 for the Borduas and $15,000 for the Riopelle,” he says.
Today, these works could be worth approximately $100,000 for the first and $40,000 for the second, according to Alain Lacoursière, a retired policeman turned art appraiser.
Justify the price
In 2019, the collector contacted an expert to have “L’autel aux idolâtres” appraised. He wanted to give it to a friend, but first had to be sure of its authenticity in order to justify the price.
The man was quickly disillusioned when he learned that it was in fact a work of art stolen in 1997, from none other than Jean-Paul Riopelle himself. He was also informed that his other painting, “Plumage d’Or”, was also part of the property stolen from the house-studio of the legendary painter in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, in the Laurentians.
” In good faith “
As he lived in Europe at the time of the crime, he claims to have never heard of a theft from the famous painter before.
“I acquired this in good faith a long time ago and it all fell on me because of an audit, launches the man who would have naively displayed the works in his residence during all these years. Let’s say that I really don’t have good memories of the past few years. The police wanted to take me to court, but I did nothing wrong. »
Indeed, the Sûreté du Québec wanted to accuse him of concealment, but the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) judged that the evidence was not sufficient. The file was thus closed.
As an insurance company had compensated Jean-Paul Riopelle for the theft of the Borduas in 1997, an international firm specializing in the search for stolen or lost works of art was mandated to recover the work. In the end, an agreement was signed between the two parties and the Quebec collector will keep the painting, which will be given to him next week after being “frozen” in a lawyer’s office for several months. As for the second stolen canvas, that of Riopelle, the man claims to have the right to keep it too. Barring exceptions, Quebec law provides that we become the owner of property when it is in our possession for three years.