Andrés Hurtado found the painting on a Seville street, attracted by its frame, and took it to his hotel before bringing it home to Murcia.
After noticing the Sorolla signature, Hurtado used a phone AI tool and later an auction house, which valued the work at €40,000–150,000.
Seeing news of the missing painting, Hurtado contacted police, who collected it in a patrol car boot alongside random objects.
His televised interview in a sleeveless shirt made him a folk hero, evoking nostalgia for shared 1990s TV culture.
Andrés Hurtado, a Murcian transformista who performs as Lola Montiel, was in Seville as a tourist when he noticed a painting leaning against a planter near his hotel. It was around 4:30 p.m. during a heatwave. He later said he was drawn to the frame, not the canvas, and carried the work back to his room before taking it home to Puebla de Soto, Murcia.
Once home, Hurtado examined the painting more closely and spotted a signature.
“Coño, si aquí pone Sorolla”
Hurtado saw television coverage of the lost Sorolla and decided to call the authorities. Police arrived at his home to collect the canvas. Footage showed officers placing the unframed work in the boot of a patrol car, alongside a fire extinguisher and other loose items, a detail that added to the story's surreal charm.
Hurtado's straightforward honesty and his appearance on TVE in a sleeveless shirt turned him into an overnight sensation. The episode drew comparisons to the shared television moments of the 1990s.
“Esta historia y este hombre merecen estar desde ya en el Olimpo de la cultura trash española, junto a las vecinas de Valencia, la socorrista de 'la he liao parda' o Rocío Jurado gritando: 'sois destructores'. No nos merecemos tanto.”
Commentators noted that Hurtado needed no white gloves or climate-controlled case. He carried the Sorolla in a plastic bag. The episode was read as a parable of rough-edged decency, free of institutional pomp. The painting itself, having been briefly stolen by passers-by and then abandoned fifty metres from its original spot, completed a journey that one columnist called more surreal than any performance at a contemporary art fair.
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Andrés Hurtado, a Lola Flores impersonator from Murcia, spotted a discarded painting while visiting Seville, took it home for its frame, and later discovered it was a genuine Sorolla worth up to €150,000.
AI text based on reports by ABC TU DIARIO EN ESPAÑOL, El Periódico and EL PAÍS. Published .