The abstract painting of a nude woman rested inside an antiques shop in Silver City, New Mexico. The shop owner had picked it up in an estate sale and intended to hang it in his guesthouse. He kept it at the store, just for the day.
But visitors noticed.
"Is that a real de Kooning?" one visitor asked. Three others had the same question.
The owner, David Van Auker, tapped "de Kooning" into his internet browser. Up popped an azcentral.com article that led him to report the discovery of the artwork to authorities.
Preliminary authentication shows the painting is “Woman-Ochre,” a Willem de Kooning masterpiece looted in a daring heist 31 years ago from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, museum officials said this week.
To read more:
Lead image Willem de Kooning in his studio 1961 - Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives SIA2011-2241 (PD)
Image Courtesy AZCENTRAL - Stolen Willem de Kooning "Woman-Ochre" recovered
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