TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — After all this time, the restored "Woman-Ochre” will be on display at the University of Arizona Museum of Art and open to the public beginning Oct. 8.
37 years ago, a painting worth more than 100 million dollars was stolen from the University of Arizona—all in a matter of 15 minutes.
Today, Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre" hangs back in its original home at the University of Arizona Museum of Art.
On Nov. 9, 1985, a man and a woman followed a staff member inside the museum the moment the museum opened for the day.
The woman distracted the security guard, making small talk, while the man went upstairs and cut the painting from its frame, rolled it up, and walked out.
The two escaped the museum—never to be seen again.
In 2017, the painting resurfaced in an estate sale in New Mexico for Rita and Jerry Alter.
The famous painting was hung behind a bedroom door inside the Alter’s home.
It was David Van Auker, Buck Burns, and Rick Johnson who acquired the estate, to take back to their antique store, the three owned in Silver City.
When the unknowingly famous painting was displayed in the antique shop, it was then that customers quickly began speculating if the artwork was the real De Kooning.
“I went to the computer and I went four pages into Google. I pulled up the ‘Arizona Republic’ article, by Ann Ryman, and saw the picture-my heart stopped. Because I instantly knew that it was the same painting,” said Antique Dealer Dan Van Auker.
"We propped it up on the desk and started comparing all runs, drips, and brush strokes. And yeah we kind of went into panic mode about that time and that's when I placed the phone call to Olivia."
Olivia Miller, the interim Director and Exhibitions curator at the UAMA (University of Arizona Museum of Art) was among the small group of university staff that welcomed the painting back to campus 37 years after the theft.
“Quite frankly, we were a bit overwhelmed. We hoped and prayed this painting would come back, the reality of it coming back also presented us with a whole number of things we had to deal with,” said Miller.
“In particular, knowing that it came back in very dire condition.”
"When the painting first came to the Getty, we started with examining the painting, documenting the condition, every detail, and we performed technical examinations… Finally, (we) retouched all of the tiny losses of paint and it took about, I want to say two and a half years,” says Ulrich Birkmaier, the Senior Painting Conservator at the Getty Museum.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Stolen painting returns to the University of Arizona after three decades
- Stolen University of Arizona painting on display at The Getty
- Recovered de Kooning painting back in the spotlight
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Breanna Isbell is a reporter for KGUN 9. She joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after receiving her bachelor’s degree in sports journalism from Arizona State University in May. Share your story ideas with Breanna by emailing breanna.isbell@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
