Italy recovers stolen Gauguin that hung in man's kitchen for 40 years

Italy yesterday said it had recovered a painting worth millions of euros by Paul Gauguin, stolen in London in 1970, bought by an Italian factory worker for a pittance and hung in his kitchen for almost 40 years.

The French artist's Fruit on a table or small dog was stolen from a house in the British capital along with Woman with two chairs by Pierre Bonnard, and they were recovered together in Italy from the pensioner, who used to work for Italian car giant Fiat.

The Gauguin painting is worth between €10 million (HK$107 million) and €30 million while the Bonnard is valued at some €600,000, Italy's heritage police said.

The paintings turned up in a lost property department at a train station and were sold at auction in 1975 to the Fiat factory worker, who bought them for 45,000 Italian lire, or 23 euros. The auctioneers purportedly didn't know they were stolen.

"It's an incredible story, an amazing recovery. A symbol of all the work which Italian art police have put in over the years behind the scenes," Italy's Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said.

The paintings by the French artists were found last month after a lengthy investigation, which began when police received a tip-off that they may have been stolen.

Investigators trawled through back catalogues of exhibitions from the time of the theft, from which the 1889 Gauguin mysteriously disappeared after it was stolen.