A superyacht that was once used by its 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 for work at Pendennis Shipyard.
Her owner, Jaime Botin, died in August this year. Botín resigned in 2004 as vice president of Santander bank, founded by his grandfather, saying he wanted to “live life”.
In January 2020, he was convicted of trying to smuggle a Picasso aboard on the yacht to sell at an auction in London. 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. In June 1906, he made a short trip to the Catalan village of Gósol and stayed there for 10 weeks with his mistress Fernande Olivier.
Botin had previously been denied a permit to take the painting out of Spain on the grounds that the work was of national cultural importance. French customs officers boarded 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 painting was confiscated and taken back to Spain.
The Adix under sail (credit Marine Traffic)
Spain has strict heritage laws which state that anything over 100 years old, which is of national importance in terms of cultural identity, can be designated a national treasure. 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.
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 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.
Botín, whose worth was estimated by Forbes at $2.5 billion in 2018, had bought the painting in 1977. He acquired Head of a Young Woman at the Marlborough Fine Arts Fair in London. The wider Botín family are great collectors of art, and they own a private museum in Santander to display their collection.
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. Valued at around 25 million dollars she is one of the ten largest private sailboats in the world. Built by Astilleros de Mallorca in 1984 to an Arthur Holgate design, with a length of almost 65m, Adix is one of the largest sailing yachts built since the 1930s. Up to 8 guests can stay on board and enjoy the library containing over 20,000 books. She also has accommodation for 13 crew members, including the ship’s captain.
In the mid-late 1980’s she was bought by Alan Bond who used her as a promotional tool and who crudely named the yacht after his famous beer, ‘XXXX’.
Around 1989 ‘XXXX’ was bought by the Spanish banking family and renamed Adix, and employed Paul Goss as the Captain who undertook a massive project in refurbishing the yacht. The yacht has been in Falmouth before and has had extensive refits at Pendennis Shipyard in 2001 and 2009. This year finds her back in Pendennis again preparing for her next adventure.