New York woman found painting in trash; 4 years later, it sold for $1.049m
Elizabeth Gibson discovered a stolen Rufino Tamayo painting in a Manhattan trash pile in 2003, which was later identified as a valuable work missing since 1987. The painting, 'Tres Personajes,' eventually sold at auction for over $1 million.
Why it matters
This story highlights the intersection of art history, crime recovery, and the unexpected value of discarded items.
In 2003, Elizabeth Gibson was taking a morning walk on Manhattan’s Upper West Side when she noticed a brightly coloured abstract painting lying in the trash. She did not know who had painted it or why it had been thrown away. Still, something about the work made her stop and take it with her.Gibson later began looking into the painting she had found. Her search eventually led her to the website of “Antiques Roadshow FYI”, a companion programme to the PBS show “Antiques Roadshow”, CBC news reported. That was when she discovered that the painting was not an ordinary piece of discarded artwork.The painting was identified as “Tres Personajes” (Three People), a 1970 work by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo.
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