Brazil: Police Finds $59 Million Tarsila do Amaral Painting Under Bed of Suspected Trickster

The police from Brazil retrieved an art piece from a famed Brazilian painter that is estimated to cost around $59 million, during a bust in Rio, Wednesday.

According to ARTNews, the art piece made by Tarsila do Amaral was retrieved during the operation that totaled to a discovery of a group of stolen artworks that were estimated to cost around $139 million in total.

The artwork entitled "Sol Poente" or "Setting Sun" was found on Wednesday morning, stashed under the bed of an alleged trickster that was part of a multi-million-dollar art heist. The area where the famed artwork was found was at a beach house in Ipanema.

A video of the operation surfaced on social media, showing two officers carefully retrieving several paintings under the frame of a bed.

When "Sol Poente" was found with bubble wraps, a woman cheered and gasped at their discovery.

"Well, well, well - look what we have here," one female officer said in the video. Another male officer also reacted to their discovery saying: "F***ing hell."

"Sol Poente" is an oil painting from 1929 that is historically important in the world of art as it features a succession of blob-shaped animals and greenery beneath a radiating sun.

The painting is a combination of European modernism with styles from Brazilian vernacular art.

Other Painting Recovered During Bust in Brazil

Tarsila do Amaral's "Sol Poente" was not the only painting that was recovered by Brazil's police during their bust in the Ipanema beach house.

Reports noted that some of the artworks stolen were already sold by an unnamed Brazilian art gallery. These include artworks from Emiliano di Cavalcanti, Cicero Dias, and Alberto Guignard.

Rubens Grechman and Antonio Dias' paintings were also stolen, each reportedly valued at $300,000.

Two other paintings from doing Amaral, the "Pont-Neuf" and "O Sono," was also included.

Some of the 16 stolen paintings were already sold to overseas collectors. Two will find their way to the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires in Argentina, and three were traced to an art gallery in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Aside from paintings, around 1 million pounds or $1.2 million worth of jewelry were also seized by the authorities during their bust.

Four Arrested by Brazil Police in Connection to Stealing Tarsila do Amaral

Authorities say the theft was a result of an extended con, with the daughter of an 82-year-old woman who was married to late Brazilian art dealer Jean Boghici.

The daughter, who was not named, allegedly made her mother, Genevieve Boghici, believe that she was sick urging her to make a series of payments during a "spiritual work" treatment from an Afro-Brazilian priestess.

The scam reportedly began in January of 2020, when a clairvoyant approached the 82-year-old Brazilian priestess who falsely confirmed the condition of her daughter.

Four people, including Boghici's daughter, were arrested by the police, accused stealing of 16 paintings.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Brazilian Police Find Stolen Painting Worth Almost £50m - From Guardian News