55.2 × 46.2 cm and was purchased by the gallery in 1986 for , the most expensive painting purchased by any gallery in Australia, the previous record held by Blue Poles, which cost the Australian National Gallery in 1974. The purchase was controversial because of its very high price tag, with some local artists complaining that the money could have been spent more productively on Australian art. The small size of the painting added to the controversy, seemingly highlighting the large expenditure. At the time, the painting was compared to "Blue Poles", but that was a large painting, so it highlighted the high cost of The Weeping Woman, which was a relatively small piece. In 2016, the NGV version of the Weeping Woman was valued by Sotheby's at $100 million. Theft This version was the subject of a high-profile art heist in August 1986, being stolen from the NGV specifically to make a political statement about the funding of art purchases in Australia. The theft made Australian and international news. The thieves left a note listing their demands, which included an increase in the funding of the arts. There was an extensive police hunt, which failed to find the painting. Later the same month, it was retrieved from a railway station locker in Melbourne. The thieves were never discovered, though various theories have persisted over the years about who it might have been, and as to whether it was an inside job. Third version A third version of the painting is held in the Musée Picasso in Paris. See also Portrait of Dora Maar Dora Maar au Chat List of Picasso artworks 1931–1940 References External links The Weeping Woman at the Tate Gallery Paintings by Pablo Picasso 1937 paintings Collection of the Tate galleries Portraits of women 20th-century portraits Surrealist paintings Anti-war paintings Bombing of Guernica War paintings Paintings about death Spanish Civil War in popular culture Political art Cubist paintings Recovered works of art