PARIS -- The Pompidou Centre in Paris hopes to display a long-vanished Picasso painting in May, now that it has been recovered by U.S. customs authorities.
The 1911 cubist painting "The Hairdresser," worth millions of dollars, was reported missing from a Pompidou storeroom in 2001. It was smuggled into the U.S. in December from Belgium.
Pompidou director Alain Seban said the discovery comes as a "true comfort" at a time when the cultural world is reeling from an Islamic State video showing the destruction of statues in Iraq.
Seban said in a statement Friday that he hopes the work can be exhibited again publicly in May.
U.S. and French authorities have not announced any arrests in the case.
