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An artist has been left stunned after uncovering what he believes could be a long-lost Picasso - in his ATTIC.

But the romantic back story of how the painting came to be in his possession is almost as special as the work of art which could change his life.

Shocked Dominic Currie, 58, was rifling through the belongings of his late mother Annette when he came across an old painting in a battered suitcase.

The art fan recognised the Cubist shapes and, on closer inspection, was amazed to see Pablo Picasso's recognisable signature in the bottom right-hand corner.

The auction house Christie's is now analysing the artwork, but if it transpires to be a genuine work from the Spanish legend, it could be worth a millions of pounds.

Dominic believes the painting was a gift from his real father, a Russian soldier, to his mother Annette after their whirlwind romance in the 1950s.

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When she died in 2000, he couldn't face going through her belongings, and stored them in his attic.

Sift through the stash recently, he was amazed to find a rolled-up canvas covered in Russian newspapers dated 1953.

Dominic, from Methil in Fife, Scotland, said: "This is just too bizarre to take in.

"How do you cope with something like this - it's like getting six numbers in the lottery. Should we get it framed and stick it up over the mantelpiece?

"If my painting is genuine, my father obviously wanted to look after me and my mother as well.

"For that I'd love to shake his hand, I'd love to meet him.

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"It's a wonderful gift. It's like a message from both of them to me. That's how it feels.

"It's like: 'Here son, we're going to look after you. It's taken a wee while but we've got there'."

Dominic's mother Annette met his father Nicolai Vladimirovich, a Russian soldier, in 1955 during a holiday to Poland when she was 19.

She became pregnant and, following Dominic's birth, the couple wrote regularly, occasionally reuniting when Annette took trips to the former Soviet Union.

According to Annette, Nicolai gave her a painting to sell, knowing she would struggle financially as a single parent.

Their long-distance relationship ended in the early '60s when Annette met another man.

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Meanwhile, Dominic, who had been brought up by his grandparents, believed his mother was his sister until the truth emerged in the late 1980s.

He found about his father in 1998 when he grew very close to his mum, and she told him about a mystery painting - but he dismissed it as fantasy.

When Annette died in 2000, he put her belongings in his attic, where they stayed untouched for 15 years until he rummaged through them before intending to throw them out.

Dominic, an artist-in-residence at Kirkcaldy's Sailor's Walk Gallery, said: "I saw a roll of cloth and thought that was the actual painting then realised there was a canvas rolled up inside.

"My son and I slowly opened it up and I saw a juggle of cubes and squares and thought, 'What the hell is this?'

"We had to tease it open because it had been curled up for decades.

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"I thought, 'No, this can't be' then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Then we started looking at it seriously and were absolutely dumbfounded. It was a bizarre, surreal moment.

"I wouldn't have thought that my mum was knowledgeable about art. She never discussed art, as far as I know. The name Picasso wouldn't have registered.

"Maybe the Russian explained what it was but when she looked at it she thought it was the ugliest thing she had seen in her life. She totally dismissed it. Saying that, she never threw it out.

"She never threw anything out and I just thought it would be a suitcase full of rubbish. We had actually considered putting it to the skip.

"When my mum died I was closer to her than at anytime of my life and it really broke me up. I didn't want anything to remind me of her because it was too painful."

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The suitcase also contained clothes, handbags, Russian money, travel documents and a photograph of Nicolai in military uniform.

The canvas was damp and appeared to have been cut from its frame.

The work bears a striking resemblance to Picasso's Portrait of Kahnweiler' which was painted in 1910 and is part of the collection of the Institute of Art in Chicago.

Dominic has referred his painting to Christie's for appraisal and is nervously waiting for a verdict from experts.

If it passes scrutiny, he intends to sell it at auction.

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He said: "Whether he knew the full value of what he gave her I don't know.

"I can only assume he must have known something.

"It wouldn't have made sense for him to have given her something which he would have known was a fake. To him, it must have been real and tangible."

Last month, a 1955 Picasso painting - Les Femmes d'Alger - broke auction records when it sold at Christie's for a staggering £115 million.