Nude Stolen in Berlin

More than 30 artworks worth an estimated £173,000 ($250,000) were stolen from the Fasanengalerie, a private gallery in Berlin, during the New Year holiday. This lithograph of a bearded lady with big ears by Matisse - Nude in a Rocking Chair (1913) - is one of the stolen works. Picasso's Profil au Fond Noir (1947) and Georges Braque's colour print Le Boupeut were also stolen. If the rest of the haul is as bad as this, it's no great loss to the art world. I cast no aspersion on the owner of the Fasanengalerie, but I suspect that 2009 will be a good year for "losing" bad art which is insured for much more than its worth in a depressed market.