Picasso painting goes missing in Paris

French police are investigating the disappearance of a painting by Pablo Picasso valued at €2.5m from a warehouse owned by the Pompidou Centre, police said today.

The oil-on-canvas Nature Morte a la Charlotte was last seen on January 12 at a restoration studio at a warehouse in north west Paris.

The painting, which measures 21 by 25 inches, was completed in 1924 and belongs to the Fine Arts Museum of Nancy.

The disappearance of the painting was discovered on Friday by an unidentified manager of the Pompidou Centre, who immediately alerted authorities, officials said.