ZURICH, Feb 8: Two paintings by Pablo Picasso worth nearly five million Swiss francs ($4.5 million) have been stolen from a museum in eastern Switzerland, police sources said on Friday.

The two oil paintings, “Tete de Cheval” from 1962 and “Verre et pichet” from 1944, were stolen on Wednesday evening from a cultural centre in the eastern town of Pfaeffikon, police said.

Police said the circumstances surrounding the theft were still unclear, but that the thieves managed to leave the building around 7:00 pm local time (1800 GMT).

The security alarm was set off as they left the museum, and guards noticed shortly afterwards that the paintings were missing.

The two paintings, one showing a typically stark horse’s head in blues, greys and whites and the other a still life of a glass and pitcher in red and green, belong to the Sprengel museum in Hanover, Germany.

The museum has offered an unspecified reward for the paintings’ safe return.—AFP