[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274193675.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tFour artworks recovered from the 1MDB scandal have gone on public view in Malaysia for the first time, offering a modest but pointed reminder of one of the largest financial frauds in modern history.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe works\u2014by Picasso, Mir\u00f3, Balthus and Maurice Utrillo\u2014were unveiled Wednesday at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Putrajaya, according to the\u00a0South China Morning Post<\/em>. They had been repatriated from New York last month after being traced through Sotheby\u2019s and shipped back to Malaysia on April 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe four paintings are Joan Mir\u00f3\u2019s\u00a0Composition<\/em>\u00a0(1953), Maurice Utrillo\u2019s\u00a0Maison de rendez-vous de chasse de Henri IV, rue Saint-Vincent, Montmartre<\/em>\u00a0(1934), Balthus\u2019s\u00a0Etude pour femme couch\u00e9e<\/em>\u00a0(1948), and Pablo Picasso\u2019s L\u2019Ecuyere et les clowns<\/em>\u00a0(1961). Together, they are estimated at about $198,125, a tiny figure next to the billions allegedly stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the state investment fund at the center of the scandal.<\/p>\n \n\tStill, Malaysian officials framed the display less as an art event than as an act of restitution. \u201cThis is a betrayal of the people\u2019s money,\u201d MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki told reporters, according to SCMP. \u201cNo matter how large the amount stolen through this scandal, every cent belonging to the people must be returned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe 1MDB scandal has long had an art-market afterlife. US prosecutors have said more than $4.5 billion was diverted from the fund between 2009 and 2014, with money routed into real estate, jewelry, a superyacht, Hollywood financing, and trophy works of art.\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0has\u00a0previously reported\u00a0that Jho Low, the fugitive financier accused by US authorities of helping mastermind the scheme, was once known for placing major bids at auction, including $43.5 million for Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s\u00a0Dustheads<\/em>\u00a0(1982) at Christie\u2019s New York in 2013 and $53.9 million for Monet\u2019s\u00a0Nymph\u00e9as<\/em>\u00a0(1906) at Sotheby\u2019s London in 2014.<\/p>\n \n\tThe latest four works are tied to Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, a former 1MDB lawyer and Low associate who returned to Malaysia in 2023 and has since cooperated with authorities. US officials\u00a0previously reached an agreement\u00a0with Loo to recover Picasso\u2019s\u00a0Trois femmes nues et buste d\u2019homme<\/em>\u00a0(1969), which federal prosecutors said she bought at Christie\u2019s in 2014 using misappropriated 1MDB funds from a Goldman Sachs-underwritten bond sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe recovered paintings are only part of the broader art trail. Malaysia is still pursuing eight other artworks linked to the scandal, including pieces by Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dal\u00ed, and another Picasso, according to SCMP. Authorities are also pursuing proceeds from the sale of Monet\u2019s\u00a0V\u00e9theuil au Soleil<\/em>, which was sold in Switzerland for around \u20ac25.2 million, with those funds now under seizure proceedings in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn June 2024, the U.S. Justice Department reached an agreement with Low, members of his family, and trust entities he established to\u00a0recover more than $100 million in assets, including works by Andy Warhol and Claude Monet.\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0reported at the time that the Warhol was\u00a0Colored Campbell\u2019s Soup Can (Emerald Green)<\/em>, 1965, and the Monet was\u00a0V\u00e9theuil au Soleil<\/em>\u00a0(1901).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOther 1MDB-linked works have already been converted back into cash. In September,\u00a0four works surrendered to the U.S. Department of Justice, including pieces by Basquiat, Picasso, and Diane Arbus, sold for about $36 million in an online auction conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service. Basquiat\u2019s\u00a0Red Man One<\/em>\u00a0(1982) alone brought $22 million, while another Basquiat,\u00a0Self Portrait<\/em>\u00a0(1982), sold for $8.3 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFor now, the four works shown in Putrajaya are expected to be handed over to Malaysia\u2019s National Art Gallery. Azam, the MACC chief commissioner, said they could eventually be shown to the public as a reminder of the scandal, though he left open the possibility that the government or finance ministry could later decide to sell them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/market\/malaysia-1mdb-recovered-artworks-picasso-miro-1234784255\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274193675.jpg?w=1024″] Four artworks recovered from the 1MDB scandal have gone on public view in Malaysia for the first time, offering a modest but pointed reminder of one of the largest financial frauds in modern history. The works\u2014by Picasso, Mir\u00f3, Balthus and Maurice Utrillo\u2014were unveiled Wednesday at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1924588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1924588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1924588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1924588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1924588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}