When an original Picasso disappeared from a Milwaukee gallery in 2018, owners wondered if they would ever see it again. But in August 2026, a man turned the art over to the police. Timothy Dertz noticed an intriguing artwork on the wall of his apartment after his tenant moved out. When he asked an antique dealer to take a look, the two men noticed a signature in green crayon: ‘Picasso’, reported Smithsonian Magazine.The artwork was a print of a bullfighter and a thick layer of dust had collected on the top of the frame. The landlord figured that the print must have been hanging in that spot for some time. “It was in a back bedroom behind a door,” Dertz told WISN-TV’s Stephen Cohn. “A very odd placement for such a piece of art.”When the two dug deeper, they realised that the artwork was a 1949 Pablo Picasso etching called Torero, Spanish for ‘bullfighter’. It had been missing from Milwaukee’s DeLind Fine Art Appraisals since February 2018. At the time of its disappearance, it was valued at $35,000 to $50,000.The “Torero” print, one of 30 of its kind, was originally commissioned for sale at a gallery owned by Bill DeLind, who told The Associated Press Friday that when police called him to let him know it had been found, “I was overwhelmed. I was at a loss for words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”The disappearance was distressing for the owners of the gallery, a small operation with no working security cameras at the time of the theft. On February 16, 2018, “somebody walked in in the middle of the day and picked a Picasso off the wall and walked out with it,” DeLind tells the Associated Press’ Scott Bauer. “Nobody noticed—not me, not my partner.” DeLind had seen the etching hanging on the wall that very morning. His business partner, Michael Goforth, who died earlier this year, noticed that the artwork wasn’t in its usual spot a few hours later. “I immediately went upstairs,” Goforth told Fox6 News in 2018. “I said, ‘Bill, tell me the Picasso is out on approval.’ And the look he gave me was priceless.”The late co-owner of DeLind’s gallery, Michael Goforth, was deeply invested in trying to recover the print prior to his death earlier this year. DeLind told WITI-TV that Goforth “was so invested in this particular piece. It was an obsession with him that he wanted it back.”The gallery announced a $5,000 reward for the piece’s return a few weeks later. When no new leads materialised, they raised the reward to $7,500 and then $10,000. Every year, on the anniversary of the theft, DeLind and Goforth checked in with the police or contacted local media outlets, hoping to keep the search active.“It was violating,” Goforth told WISN-TV’s Kendall Keys in 2023. “My partner and I have always been open to the public. We’re not stuffy. We like to share these beautiful works of art with everyone in the community. And for someone to just walk in and take advantage of that, it was hurtful.”Robert Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s art crime team, told the TV station that the gallery owners shouldn’t lose hope, as stolen artworks sometimes make their way back. If they come back on the market, somebody usually finds out about their origins. “So if they just sit tight,” he said, “eventually it does show up.”Torero disappeared more than eight years ago, and police told WISN-TV that the statute of limitations for theft and property crimes in Wisconsin is usually six years. Even so, they say that the incident is still under investigation.When Dertz learned of the theft, he became anxious about his unwitting involvement, spending a night pacing and “freaking out,” his girlfriend, Natassha Delgado, as per the Washington Post. Soon, Dertz handed over the artwork to the Milwaukee Police Department on August 5th, 2026.In a statement, the Milwaukee Police Department thanked Dertz, who “recognised the etching print and did the right thing.” Officers contacted Bill DeLind, the art dealer who had co-owned the gallery. He examined the artwork and confirmed that it was the real deal. “I never expected to see it again,” DeLind tells the Washington Post’s Victoria Craw and Grey Battle. “The fact that it would turn up eight years later in perfect condition is just jaw-dropping.”DeLind said that an insurance company, which paid for the Picasso, is now the piece’s rightful owner. But he’s hopeful that he’ll be allowed to hang Torero in the gallery, even for just a few months, so visitors can see it restored to its former spot on the wall.
