A superyacht that was once used by its recently deceased Spanish billionaire owner to illegally smuggle a Picasso painting has arrived at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth for an upgrade.
The Adix arrived in Falmouth after traveling down from Scotland where she visited the Island of Arran.
Valued at around 25 million dollars she is one of the ten largest private sailboats in the world. Adix is one of the largest sailing yachts built since the 1930s. Up to 8 guests can be accommodated on board the superyacht, Adix, and she also has accommodation for 13 crew members, including the ship’s captain.
Her owner, Jaime Botin, died in August this year, but in January 2020, he was convicted of trying to smuggle a Picasso aboard on the yacht to sell at an auction in London. Botin had previously been denied a permit to take the painting out of Spain was on the grounds that the work was of national cultural importance. He was sentenced to 18-months in prison and fined $58 million for the offence but avoided prison as he had an incurable disease. He had previously been served with several hefty fines for financial irregularities.
Botin denied the charges and claimed he was simply taking it to Switzerland for safe-keeping.
Despite this, the court said, Botin took the painting to the Mediterranean port city of Valencia and ordered the captain of his yacht to hide it from authorities. The painting resurfaced in 2015 when French customs, working in tandem with Spanish authorities, discovered it in the yacht captain’s cabin during a stopover in Corsica.
French customs officers boarded Botín’s yacht, Adix, at Calvi in Corsica, at the request of their Spanish counterparts. The painting was found aboard, with a private jet reportedly readied to fly it to Geneva. Botín insisted he was merely keeping it safe, but the work, valued at some 26 million euros, was confiscated.
Head of a Young Woman was painted in 1906 by Picasso when he was 24 years old. Within this period, while escaping from the Parisian art world, he dramatically changed his approach to his art. The oil painting is a portrait of a young woman with long, dark hair and a sideways stare and has an estimated value of €26 million. It is now housed at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
The luxury yacht has had extensive refits carried out previously at Pendennis Shipyard and is a regular visitor to Falmouth – competing twice in the Pendennis Cup, a regatta for classic and modern yachts. This year finds her back in Pendennis again ready for her next adventure.
