PARIS, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A lost painting by French Impressionist master Edgar Degas was found in a bus during a random check, the French Culture Ministry said Friday in a statement.

According to the statement, French customs agents found a work of art with the signature "Degas" inside a suitcase in the bus' luggage compartment.

Experts confirmed it was "Les Choristes" ("The Chorus Singers"), a pastel painting which depicts singers' performance on stage and measures 32 cm by 27 cm.

It was finished in 1877. The French national museums service said its estimated price was 800,000 euros (nearly 1 million U.S. dollars).

"Les Choristes" was stolen in 2009 during an exhibition in the Cantini Museum, which is located in central Marseille. Authorities at that time found no signs of a break-in.

During the bus check near Paris on Feb. 16, none of the passengers admitted to owning the suitcase with the painting. Nobody has been arrested so far.

The recovered painting will reappear in a Degas-themed exhibition in the Orsay Museum in Paris this autumn, French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen said in the statement.