Stolen Van Gogh painting recovered

A stolen Vincent van Gogh painting valued at £32m (€40m) was recovered by police at Cairo airport today, the Egyptian minister of culture said.

Farouk Hosni said airport security confiscated the painting from two Italians this evening, hours after the artwork was stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in the Egyptian capital.

Mr Hosni said the Italians were trying to leave the country.

The painting goes by two titles, Poppy Flowers or Vase with Flowers, according to the Khalil museum’s director, Reem Bahir.

This is the second time the painting by Van Gogh has been stolen from the Cairo museum. Thieves made off with the canvas in 1978, before authorities recovered it two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait.