Stolen artwork by Tarsila do Amaral, one of Brazil's most important modern artists was found beneath a bed on Wednesday, in a beachside apartment in Ipanema, during an investigation into a group of stolen paintings. 

The painting, titled Sol Poente (Setting Sun), 1929, is claimed to be worth 300 million reais, equivalent to $59.1 million. 

Do Amaral's painting is 1 of 16 that police seized during an operation that involved 709 million reais (approx. $139 million) worth of art by artists like Emiliano di Cavalcanti, Alberto Guignard, and Cícero Dias. That value did not include the jewelry and cash that were also stolen. 

Quadro de Tarsila do Amaral, avaliado em R$250 milhões, é encontrado embaixo da cama de falsa vidente.
Créditos: Divulgação#ODia pic.twitter.com/O0IJoK7VyF

— Jornal O Dia (@jornalodia) August 10, 2022

A video was posted on social media showing detectives taking the paintings out from beneath a slatted bed frame. Two of the stolen works had allegedly been sold to the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

How did it unfold? 

Local police statements disclosed that the theft was the outcome of a plan devised by the unidentified daughter of a woman in Rio de Janeiro, revealed as Genevieve Boghici, an 82-year-old woman who was once married to Jean Boghici, a late Brazilian dealer who held a significant collection. 

The daughter allegedly made Boghici believe she was ill and convinced her to make a series of payments during the course of a "spiritual" treatment involving a pretend Afro-Brazilian priestess, according to police statements. 

They further added that Boghici eventually became suspicious of their behavior, and when she attempted to halt the payments, she was held hostage in her home, threatened, beaten, and robbed. While Boghici was out of the house, her daughter allegedly brought accomplices as reinforcements to steal the paintings. Police then claimed that the daughter fired domestic workers to ensure that the heist would go smoothly.

Although two of the paintings were duly registered by the daughter, the police arrested her for embezzlement, false imprisonment, extortion, and criminal association, and arrest warrants have been issued against two others who are said to be involved in the theft. 

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