US returns long-lost Picasso work to France

Washington

THE United States on Thursday returned to French authorities an oil painting by Pablo Picasso that was reported stolen from a major Paris museum 14 years ago.

The Hairdresser, which Picasso created in Paris in 1911 during his Cubism period, was seized by US customs agents in New Jersey.

Valued at US$15 million, it was authenticated in January by experts from the Centre Georges Pompidou museum, its previous home.

"Picasso used to say: 'A painting truly exists in the eyes of the beholder'," said Frederic Dore, deputy chief of mission at t…