Stolen paintings found in car park

SWISS police said yesterday they had found two stolen paintings — one Monet and a van Gogh — of the four that were stolen last week from a gallery in Zurich.

The two paintings, estimated to be worth 70 million Swiss francs (€44m), were recovered on Monday in the back seat of a car parked at a psychiatric hospital in the city, Zurich police said in a statement.

They are in a good condition with their glass covering still intact.

Poppies near Vetheuil, 1879, by Claude Monet, and Blossoming Chestnut Branch, 1890, by van Gogh, were formally identified by the director of the Buehrle Museum from where they were stolen last Sunday, the police said.

They are still searching for two paintings — Count Lepic and his Daughters by Edgar Degas, 1871, and Boy in a Red Waistcoat by Paul Cezanne, 1888.

An employee of the psychiatric hospital alertedpolice to the white car. The car had Zurich number plates, but these were stolen from another vehicle earlier in the month.