Stolen from an Arizona museum in 1985, Willem de Kooning’s painting hung behind a New Mexico bedroom door until antique dealers spotted it in 2017

Have you ever tried cleaning out a closet and found something that made your jaw drop? Something similar happened to three antique dealers in New Mexico, but it was much bigger than any closet find. The University of Arizona News reported that Willem de Kooning’s painting “Woman-Ochre” was stolen from an Arizona museum in 1985. In 2017, antique dealers found it hanging in a secluded spot behind a bedroom door in a rural New Mexico home. The painting had been missing for over 30 years.A quiet heist on the day after ThanksgivingThe theft took place back in 1985 on the day following Thanksgiving. A man and a woman entered the University of Arizona Museum of Art upon its opening. The woman struck up a conversation with some of the staff as her companion went upstairs to one of the galleries. This room held the work, “Woman-Ochre,” an oil painting by the Dutch American artist Willem de Kooning. The painting had been donated to the university in 1958. The man cut the painting from its frame, rolled it and walked out of the door. By the time security realised that the painting was missing, the duo was long gone. For many years, the only information the FBI had about the robbers was a sketch and the description of a rust coloured sports car.The dealers who spotted itThen in 2017, David Van Auker, Buck Burns and Rick Johnson bought the estate of a woman in rural New Mexico. The three owned Manzanita Ridge, a furniture and antiques store in Silver City. Among the items was a painting that was hanging in an unobtrusive place behind the bedroom door. They took it back to the shop, not thinking much about it until customers began to ask if it was a real de Kooning. Van Auker searched online and found a 2015 Arizona Republic story about the 30th anniversary of the theft, which included a painting that closely resembled his. He called the museum, and exhibitions curator Olivia Miller asked him to send photos. Staff drove for three hours to see it, and three days later the painting was riding back to Tucson in a minivan. A two-hour inspection on campus confirmed that it was real.Repairing the damage at Getty Getting the painting was only half the job. The Getty’s conservation project page states that the painting was recovered 32 years after its theft. However, it was quite badly damaged. The university adds that the painting was torn off from the back, rolled up and then re-stretched and reframed. In 2019, the institution sent the painting to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where the museum offered to restore it for free. The conservator removed the varnish, stabilised the flaking paint, restored the lost paint, and reattached the canvas to the edges that remained in the original frame. The pandemic slowed down the work at times, but Getty conservators also learned new things about materials and techniques de Kooning used.Home again, but one mystery remains The restored painting was exhibited at the Getty from June to August 2022. It then returned to Tucson in an 18-wheeler with a Homeland Security escort on the night of September 14 and went on exhibit on October 8. Miller said the movement brought relief and peace of mind. Who took it is still officially unknown. The university says suspicion has largely fallen upon the late Jerry and Rita Alter, a couple who owned the home where the painting was found. However, no one has been officially identified as the thief. Museum staff say the ending could have been quite different had the painting been found by someone else. They have since become close to the three dealers.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.