Paris Judge Orders Yves Bouvier to Stand Trial Over Nearly 70 Missing Picasso Works
A long-running French investigation into missing works by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) is moving toward open court. A Paris investigating judge has ordered Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier to face trial in a Paris criminal court over the alleged disappearance of dozens of Picasso works from a storage unit rented by Catherine Hutin, Picasso’s stepdaughter, through Bouvier’s company.
Bouvier is accused of concealing stolen goods and money laundering. His friend and business partner, art dealer Olivier Thomas, has also been ordered to stand trial, facing charges of breach of trust, embezzlement, and laundering. A trial date has not yet been set.
The decision follows a procedural challenge by Bouvier that was rejected in November 2024, allowing the inquiry to continue. On January 15, 2026, the investigating judge concluded there were sufficient grounds for the case to proceed to trial.
The investigation began in 2015 after Hutin, the daughter of Picasso’s last partner Jacqueline Roque, reported that works were missing from a storage unit in a Paris suburb. According to the case file, the unit had been used after Hutin asked Thomas, a mutual acquaintance of both parties, to handle the sale of Picasso’s final home on the Riviera, the Mas Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins, and to move furniture into storage.
As the inquiry unfolded, Hutin reported additional disappearances, bringing the total number of missing works to almost 70. Investigators also found that some of the missing pieces appeared in photographs on Thomas’ camera.
Among the most consequential findings: two portraits of Roque and 60 drawings from sketchbooks were discovered to have been sold by Bouvier to Russian collector Dmitri Rybolovlev for a combined €36 million. Rybolovlev filed a complaint in connection with the Picasso works, but later withdrew from the procedure after reaching a settlement with Bouvier in 2023 tied to their broader nine-year legal dispute.
Bouvier has maintained that the Picasso works originated with the late Paris dealer Jean-François Aittouares. The investigating judge, however, found “there is not a single element establishing his involvement.”
In comments to The Art Newspaper, Bouvier said the arrangement was based on “a verbal agreement,” adding that he paid Hutin $8 million for the works under investigation via a Liechtenstein trust. The ruling counters that the payment corresponded to an earlier, undisputed transaction: a 2010 sale of 11 paintings. The judge further concluded that Bouvier provided no documentation supporting the purchase of the works alleged to have disappeared from storage.
Bouvier has rejected the court’s decision, calling a trial “completely unjustified and baseless.” His attorney, Philippe Valent, said the case was “ludicrous” and argued that Hutin had been paid for works sold by Bouvier, alleging “collusion” against his client. Thomas, for his part, has said he has “nothing to do” with Bouvier’s sales.
Hutin’s lawyer, Anne-Sophie Nardon, said the family was “relieved” by a ruling that, in her view, confirms suspicions formed over a decade of proceedings, and that they now hope “truth will be established in court.”
The case lands at a sensitive intersection of art storage, private dealing, and the afterlives of major estates, where documentation and custody can become as valuable as the works themselves. With the investigative phase now effectively closed, the next chapter will hinge on what can be proven in a public courtroom — and what remains unaccounted for.
