Last week a lone thief broke into the Musee d'Art Moderne, carefully detached several of the world’s most valuable paintings from their frames and disappeared into the bohemian underbelly of the most romantic city in the world. No big blasts and barely a ruffled feather (you’ll appreciate this in a minute) has resulted in perhaps the biggest coup for any burglar in the history of art thievery.

The mystery of this perfectly executed embezzlement has only been enriched by the fact that there were no less than 3 oblivious guards protecting the museum at the time. Add to this the fact that a lock was picked to gain access (it all sounds a bit Robin Hood) it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up in a charity shop in Shoreham. After all, finding a buyer for some of the world’s most recognizable paintings with a phenomenal price tag isn’t going to be easy and certainly not until the heat is off. More than likely these pieces will be hidden for years to come.

Priceless paintings by Matisse, Braque, Modigliani and Léger were amongst the haul but the real draw, the prized booty of the looty was Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois by one Pablo Picasso.

Le Pigeon (there) aux Petits Pois is a prodigious Cubist work by the Spaniard Picasso who spent much of his working life in Paris and later the south of France. Picasso (along with Braque) invented Cubism which had an ever-widening influence on not only art but music, literature and architecture that is still seen and widely copied today.

Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois, Pablo Picasso - 1911

Let us not forget that by the age of 16 Picasso could paint and draw as well as any of the Old Masters – the man was a prodigy. With this divine talent Picasso was not only able to reinvent art (well why not? He’d learnt and put into practice 600 years of art history before he was old enough to shave) but could do so on a huge scale. Until Picasso, artists, however great, had been nudging art forwards at a snail’s pace. The man whose name has now been attached to a Citroën (life can be cruel) dominated art, overwhelmed it, and took not just a single step forwards but several momentous leaps, womanizing and generally having a good time along the way.

The theft of Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois is not only a huge (and by huge I mean really, really monu-fucking-mentally huge) embarrassment for the Musee d'Art Moderne but a cruel blow to anyone who hasn’t seen it (and that includes me). That Picasso is arguably the most important artist to have ever lived only reinforces the regret that this painting may one day be picked up by your Nan in exchange for a knitted tea-cosy in Barnardos.