Serbian police has recovered a Cezanne painting stolen in a raid on a Swiss museum in 2008.

Authorities have not named the painting, but local media has reported it is Boy in a Red Waistcoat, which was taken from Zurich’s Emil Georg Buehrle Collection, a private collection founded by a WWII arms dealer and entrepreneur.

Serbian police said three people had been arrested in connection with the theft.

It added an art expert was being flown in to confirm the authenticity of the 1888 painting, worth $109 million.

The robbery at the Zurich museum was one of the biggest art thefts in Europe at the time.

The heist was conducted by three armed, masked men who witnesses said spoke German with a Slavic accent.

Cezanne’s Boy in a Red Waistcoat was stolen from Zurich's Emil Georg Buehrle Collection in 2008

Boy in a Red Waistcoat was stolen with three other masterpieces by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Edgar Degas.

Monet’s Poppies near Vetheuil and Van Gogh’s Blooming Chestnut Branches were discovered undamaged in a car parked outside a psychiatric hospital in Zurich soon after the robbery.

The Degas painting, Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter, is still missing.

Police said the recent arrests in Belgrade and Cacak were conducted in co-ordination with police from several European countries.

Serbia’s state prosecutor is expected to issue a statement on the case later on Thursday.

Cezanne’s Boy in a Red Waistcoat depicts a boy in traditional Italian dress. Three other versions of the painting are in museums in the US.