Bizarrely, Picasso’s Weeping Woman was not the first of his paintings to have been allegedly stolen from an Australian state art gallery to make a point. In 1967 Picasso’s La belle Hollandaise (The beautiful Dutch woman) was stolen from the Queensland Art Gallery. At the time the painting was valued at $200,000 (the equivalent of $2,367,132 today).
Picasso had painted it in 1905 on cardboard mounted on wood, 77.1 × 65.8 centimetres, in gouache, a water-based poster-paint. La belle Hollandaise depicts a young woman wearing nothing but a traditional Dutch lacy-cloth cap. It was painted when Picasso was between his early ‘Blue period’, when he painted sad, downbeat subjects, and his ‘Rose period,’ when he focused on pleasant scenes in a primarily pinky hue.
The eccentric multi-millionaire grazier Major Harold De Vahl Rubin had purchased La belle Hollandaise for £6,000 in 1940 (about $477,882 today). In 1959 he wanted to know its current value, so he put it up for auction and bought it again, setting a record for the highest price paid for a living artist. Satisfied that he knew its value, he then donated his entire collection of modern European art to the Queensland Art Gallery: a Degas, a Renoir, a Toulouse-Lautrec, a Vlaminck, and three works by Picasso, including La belle Hollandaise.
In the middle of the night, on Monday 5 June, Robert Ferguson climbed up some scaffolding on the outside of the gothic brick building on Gregory Terrace in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. The building is now known as the Old Museum Building, but back in 1967 it was the Queensland Art Gallery. Ferguson forced open a top floor window with a screwdriver and entered the Gallery. Fortunately for Ferguson, there was no burglar alarm in that part of the Gallery. Little is known about the 22-year-old New Zealander who had been working as a labourer, but his father confirmed to reporters that his son did have a passion for art and was a frequent visitor to art galleries. Ferguson later claimed to have been motivated by a strange idealism. He was aware that the Gallery was considering the sale of La belle Hollandaise to raise money for a new building to be built on the southern bank of the Brisbane River.
The full story of what happened is one of the stories in my book The Picasso Ransom. La belle Hollandaise still hangs in the Queensland Art Gallery.
June 11th, 2018 at 9:46 AM
Thanks Mark! Fascinating story!
June 11th, 2018 at 5:21 PM
Yes, there has to be more to it.
June 12th, 2018 at 1:16 PM
Cher Docteur Enn,
did you know about this?
Monsieur Beh
Bernard Caleo Cardigan Comics 61 3 9497 8098 site cardigancomics.com draw bernardcaleo.tumblr.com
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June 12th, 2018 at 1:18 PM
Ack! Sorry, Mark: I was meaning to forward it on to an art mate in the US of A….
I’ll try that again…
Yours
Bernard
PS If you’d like a peek at my recent trip to Japan, look here:
http://www.katasuburi.tumblr.com
Bernard Caleo Cardigan Comics 61 3 9497 8098 site cardigancomics.com draw bernardcaleo.tumblr.com
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July 4th, 2018 at 6:56 PM
My friends father is Robert Ferguson lol
July 6th, 2018 at 12:19 PM
Had to be a few. Is is he from NZ? Did he work in Brisbane?
December 4th, 2018 at 1:29 PM
My father is robert ferguson
December 4th, 2018 at 1:33 PM
Thank you for contacting me. I have many questions that I will send in an email.
December 4th, 2018 at 1:31 PM
And i read the story its not exactly true but theres more to it and i know every about it.
December 4th, 2018 at 1:37 PM
My friend did comment on the 4th july and he is from NZ and he did work in Brisbane he even told me about it and the gallery knows my father as well
December 4th, 2018 at 1:56 PM
Wow, I just thought that your friends comment was a laugh because it is a relatively common name.
December 4th, 2018 at 1:42 PM
My father is still alive as well he’s 73
December 4th, 2018 at 1:55 PM
I was assuming that, given that you were writing about him in the present tense and because he was only a young man at the time.
May 24th, 2021 at 6:17 AM
Wow. It was sold and bought again in 1959 for A£250,000 in Europe and Australian customs said the duty was 2m. My grandfather just said well you can bloody well have it then, and LOANED IT IN PERPETUITY to the Queensland National Gallery. Not a gift. He was declared barking mad shortly after giving away everything and it’s one of Australia’s longest running cases to declare that the actions of someone to be declared insane are already insane. So we want the painting back.
As for the thief, as is in the Courier Mail, saying he wasn’t paid by my step grandmother… pull the other one!
May 24th, 2021 at 9:14 AM
Thank you so much for this information; I am currently writing a book about art crimes. I will have to do some corrections to this blog post (and the chapter in my book) and more research about the court case over your grandfather’s sanity. The issue over Australian customs might involve the extra customs duty that Menzies had for importing modern art. I would be keen to hear more details that you or your family can remember about the Picasso, your grandfather and your step-grandmother.
October 31st, 2021 at 3:25 AM
A few years ago I thought the Queensland Art gallery would like to get on record the reason I borrowed LaBelle you that were so disgusting to myself which that in itself didn’t concern me but having my two younger daughter so with me that missed out what was mainly Hussey up was the gallery wanted to sell it I was asked to change there minds Could have been I can’t see what I’m writing even with a 55″ monitor looking at to many lady painting I guess the other have passed away so if the interest is there might write some take care everyone. PS how’s the book going thing of one myself
July 7th, 2022 at 11:30 AM
All good but actually bought in 1956 or so for A£250,000 and when bringing it back to Australia the customs demanded A£2m in duty so he told them they could xxxx well have it then. It was actually loaned in perpetuity which is under dispute but no comment from here on.
July 7th, 2022 at 11:36 AM
Repeating myself somewhat but I do have the copy of the Courier Mail and the police statements regarding 36 Garfield Drive where the painting was returned and Julie’s “amazement”.
July 7th, 2022 at 11:41 AM
Could you please photograph that article and send me a copy: melbourneartcritic@gmail.com
I have only read the reports in the Canberra Times and the Age (because they have been scanned on Trove).
July 7th, 2022 at 11:36 AM
Thanks, Richard. Australia had insane import duties on modern art to keep it out of the country because conservative idiots wanted to protect Australia. The alleged theft was never taken to court because of the loan aspect. I hope my more complete telling of this story will be published soon in my book on Australian art crimes.
December 16th, 2022 at 11:49 AM
You know a lot of rubbish has been written, about la belle over the years I went t to Queensland art gallery few years back, thay were so, bad mannered they missed out in the truth, why, I Remove the, paint ing,,should, have asked Peggy? BOB, Ferguson
December 16th, 2022 at 1:28 PM
Thanks Bob, art galleries never like to mention gaps in their security, the reasons things go missing. I will be publishing my book early next year with a more complete version.