Picasso is a firm favourite among thieves: more than 450 of the Malaga-born artist's works are being hunted down by Interpol

His name is not just the most sought-after by collectors at auctions. Or the most visited works of art at exhibitions. Pablo Picasso is also a favourite of thieves. The same type of thieves who carried out the audacious robbery at the Louvre Museum in Parislast weekend. They are especially fixated on this highly-prized artist from Malaga. Just take a look at Interpol's updated list of stolen art to see that the Spanish painter is also the most sought-after on the black market, where a whopping 452 works of art bearing his signature are in circulation. These are the known ones. Those that have been reported by their owners and being sought by Interpol. In short, the creator of the 'Guernica' painting is among the most wanted artists in this fraudulent trafficking of art pieces.

Whether for illegal sale or commissioned by a collector for exclusive, personal enjoyment, Picasso is far removed from most of the artists included on Interpol's database of stolen works of art. Therefore leading painters like Van Gogh only appears with seven canvases reported missing by their rightful owners, while another contemporary of Picasso and popular artist, Andy Warhol, has 54 missing pieces. Among those closest to Picasso's total in this criminal list of missing artistic heritage is Salvador Dalí, whose stolen works of art amount to approximately 100. This figure, however, is still a far cry from the Malaga-born artist's tally of stolen art. Meanwhile, two other great contemporaries of Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne and Joan Miró, are also present in this inventory with "only" 13 and 23 pieces respectively.

Interpol collects all this 'wanted' artistic heritage on the mobile phone app ID-Art , which has already reached the estimated total of 57,000 records of art thefts and disappearances worldwide. This exercise in transparency and dissemination describes each item with the aim of reducing illegal trafficking and trade in these cultural assets. The most frequently cited name on the app is that of Malaga-born Pablo Picasso, with 452 pieces logged, most of which are numbered prints and graphic works. That said, there is still a hefty number of original, exclusive and most sought-after works of art by Picasso: 77 paintings and drawings. They also feature the master's great themes: his women and family, still lifes, self-portraits and bullfighting compositions.

Most of the reports of missing works by Picasso come from France, although Interpol is searching for paintings valued in the millions of euros almost all over the world, from the United States to Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden and, of course, Spain. Speaking of exclusive, non-serial pieces, here in Spain there have been reports of important pieces being stolen or going missing, such as 'Portrait of a Man', an undated painting that corresponds to his formative years due to its academic style, and 'Portrait of a Woman', an oil painting with the painter's signature at the top of the canvas, which was removed from its original frame.

The list also includes highly valuable works, such as a notebook containing some 30 original drawings by the Malaga native's first wife, Olga Khokhlova, and the watercolour 'A Musketeer' (1969), related to the oil painting 'Musketeer with a Sword' (1972), currently hanging in one of the gallery rooms at the Picasso Museum in Malaga.

All this information is accessible on your mobile phone screen through ID-Art , an easy-to-use tool that, by simply scanning a work of art in front of you, tells you whether you're looking at a stolen or legal piece. This is a very comprehensive database, as this international project has compiled records and reports from 134 countries with the aim of facilitating the recovery of valuable art and objects, ranging from paintings to antiques, sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, furniture, gold and silverware and, of course, jewellery such as those stolen last weekend from the Louvre Museum.

The challenge in the fight against the trafficking of these stolen works lies in the lack of unity among the different laws and legal systems regarding art. "In many countries, there is a lack of awareness of cultural laws, so it is important to assign personnel to work exclusively in this area, in addition to cataloguing cultural heritage and developing the standard by which our database operates," explains Tiziano Coiro, coordinator of Interpol's works of art unit. He emphasises the need to collaborate and "share information" among different police forces, since this type of criminal activity has an international reach and its trafficking often goes beyond the borders of the states where the crime was committed.

This is what will happen with the recent drawing by Picasso that disappeared last week from a temporary exhibition in Granada and was valued at 600,000 euros. The case is currently being investigated by the Spanish police. If its theft is confirmed, it will become part of ID-Art's list as number 453 on the Malaga artist's ever-growing list of stolen works of art.