A 71-year-old retired electrician who claims Pablo Picasso gave him more than 200 paintings worth $80 million faces a legal battle with Picasso heirs over whether the works were gifts or stolen, the French newspaper Liberation reports today.

The paintings were not known to exist before the electrician, Pierre Le Guennec, got in touch with Claude Picasso, the artist's son and administrator of his estate, to get them authenticated. The two men met in September.

Le Guennec, who said he installed alarm systems at a number of Picasso's residences during the last three years of the artist's life, claims he was given the 271 works by Picasso, who died in 1973, or his wife.

The heirs have filed a complaint alleging receipt of stolen goods. Le Guennec was taken into custody, the paper reports, although it did not say whether he had since been released.

The works date from 1900 to 1932 and include lithographs, portraits, watercolors, and sketches — plus nine Cubist collages, reports Liberation, which broke the story.

It writes that Claude Picasso concedes that his father was generous with his works, but that he always dedicated, dated and signed such gifts.

"To give away such a large quantity, that's unheard of. It doesn't hold water," Claude Picasso is quoted in Liberation as saying. "This was part of his life."

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)