Two fairly well-known paintings, valued at millions of euros, belonging to the brushes of French artists Paul Gaugen and Pierre Bonnard, were found in Italy 40 years after their mystical disappearance in London.
Picture “Fruit on the table, or Nature with a small dog” and Bonnard's masterpiece “Woman with two chairs”, stolen from one of the family houses of the capital of Great Britain back in the 1970s, were discovered by the Italian worker company Fiat. 
Both creations of prominent artists hung from an employee of a world-famous car manufacturer in the kitchen for almost forty years. According to experts, the cost of a painting by Gauguin can vary from 10 to 30 million euros ($ 13 and $ 41 million), while a picture of Bonnard can be sold for at least 600 thousand euros.
Both masterpieces of world art were stolen, and in 1975 were sold at auction to an employee of Fiat for 45 thousand Italian liras, which is equivalent to 23 euros. Unable to discern the works of famous artists in them, the man hung acquisitions in the kitchen.
“This is an incredible story and an amazing find. This is an example of the painstaking work of the Italian police, which took several years to find the paintings, ”says Dario Franceschini, the country's Minister of Culture.
Missing creations were discovered last month after a lengthy investigation, which began when only the police received a signal that the desired paintings were not just gone, but might have been stolen. Investigators immediately began the search, carefully checking all the catalogs of art exhibitions, starting from the year when the masterpieces disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Police efforts were rewarded: newspaper articles were found that spoke of the theft of the 1970s. So the investigators managed to establish the names of the previous owners of paintings.
“Two paintings were allegedly left on the train that was traveling from Paris to Turin,” explained Mariano Mossa, head of the investigation. - "They were purchased by an art lover who hung the creations of great artists in his kitchen, where they stayed for 40 years, first in Turin, and later in his house in Sicily, where he moved after retirement."
Back in 1969, the Italian police opened a special department, which is directly involved in the investigation of the theft of art and the search for lost paintings. It is worth noting that the country of wine and the sun was an innovator in this area. Today, a special department is located in a beautiful Baroque building in the heart of the Eternal City.
The department’s employees have at their disposal the largest database in the world on the lost and stolen works of famous artists and sculptors, which stores as many as 5.7 million items.
Mossa previously explained that stolen art, such as books, paintings and sculptures, are regularly smuggled across the world through the same channels as drugs and weapons.
By the way, employees of the department for the investigation of theft of art objects can boast of the results of their work. For example, last year, they managed to find one of the paintings of the artist Marc Chagall in the house of a connoisseur of art. The masterpiece was stolen on a yacht of the American billionaire in 2002. Investigators are also investigating the theft of thousands of valuable books from the Girolamini library in Naples, which were allegedly abducted by the former director.
