The Nigerian Mona Lisa, which has been missing for more than 40 years, was found in an apartment in London last February in Nigeria for the first time since its disappearance.
Ben Unono painted the most famous modern artist in Nigeria painting, titled "Tutu" in 1974, and exhibited at an art gallery in Lagos the following year, but then disappeared until she appeared again in north London.
The owners, who preferred not to be identified, contacted Giles Bibiat, an expert on modern and contemporary African art at the London auction house Bonhams, to get to know them.
"I discovered the painting myself during a routine call to evaluate the work of the artist Ben Inono," Pibeat said, "I did not know what to see.
He added that the way she got there was still vague. Organizers said the painting was loaned to Artx in Lagos, which will be held on Friday and Sunday, sponsored by Axis Bank, which arranged the loan but does not have the painting.
The original Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 and then transferred to Italy, where it was restored and then returned to the Louvre in 1914.
The Nigerian monalisa was drawn to Aditoto Ademiloy, granddaughter of a traditional ruler of the Yoruba ethnic group. It is particularly important in Nigeria, a symbol of national reconciliation after a war between 1967 and 1970.
