Oooops :)

[Jim]

Wynn accidentally damages Picasso

Pablo Picasso's "dream" painting has turned into a $139 million nightmare for Steve Wynn.

In an accident witnessed by a group that included Barbara Walters and screenwriters Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi, Wynn accidentally poked a hole in Picasso's 74-year-old painting, "Le Reve," French for "The Dream."

A day earlier, Wynn had finalized a record $139 million deal for the painting of Picasso's mistress, Wynn told The New Yorker magazine

The accident occurred as a gesturing Wynn, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that affects peripheral vision, struck the painting with his right elbow, leaving a hole the size of a silver dollar in the left forearm of Marie-Theresa Walter, Picasso's 21-year-old mistress.

"Oh shit, look what I've done," Wynn said, according to Ephron, who gave her account in a blog published on Monday.

Wynn paid $48.4 million for the Picasso in 1997 and had agreed to sell it to art collector Steven Cohen. The $139 million would have been $4 million higher than the previous high for a work of art, according to The New Yorker.

Cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder paid $135 million in July for Gustav Klimt's 1907 portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer I."

Wynn plans to restore "Le Reve" and keep it.

[DJilla]

heheheheheheheheh

[Jeremy]

I wonder if that's covered by "accidental damage" insurance? ;-)

[jenni]

Wow - that is a very BIG ooooops

[MrYum]

Yea...that's definitely an expensive WHOOPS!

[Simon]

It may also be a good way to keep a painting from ever having to be sold. This way he gets plenty of publicity, as much or more than if he'd sold it as was planned. He can have it repaired and keep it now, and he doesn't have to let the buyer's experts examine it.

Sometimes "real" paintings are sold secretly, with no one knowing who has the original. You'd be surprised how many originals you may have seen which were really first-rate copies.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Simon

It may also be a good way to keep a painting from ever having to be sold. This way he gets plenty of publicity, as much or more than if he'd sold it as was planned. He can have it repaired and keep it now, and he doesn't have to let the buyer's experts examine it.

Sometimes "real" paintings are sold secretly, with no one knowing who has the original. You'd be surprised how many originals you may have seen which were really first-rate copies.

Didn't I see that on a Law and Order recently
I don't really think he is happy with it. He bought it for $48 million and change and had it sold for $139 million before he poked a hole in it. It would have been a nice profit of $90 million. Even Steve Winn wouldn't want to pass that up. Who knows...I guess he could have bought off the guy that authenticated it and just keeps the real one hidden away But imagine the real one popping up someplace if he did secretly sell it and claim the damage on insurance for the fake. That's a big risk.

[Simon]

I'm not sure, Jim, that's not one of the tv shows I enjoy.

But before getting into the adult biz, one of my businesses was to create the kind of copies I mentioned. We had many very wealthy clients who had copies of their originals made for insurance reasons. They displayed the copy with no one the wiser, except their insurance company, which knew the real one was safely in the vault. Over the years I was involved with this, I heard many stories of copies sold as originals, destroyed or stolen and claimed as lost originals, etc.

Not that it compares with the price of Le Reve, but there's a copy of a Dali on my wall that Sotheby's authenticated and offered to buy outright for nearly $250K instead of listing for auction. The artist who created it is alive and well today.

So while it's possible the real Picasso was damaged, I wouldn't want to bet either way without a close examination of the painting.

[terry]

I just heard it on the news this morning. Thats gotta suck.

[sue-fl]

Call me stupid but if I had an extra 49million laying around it wouldn't be spent on a painting

But that does suck loosing a profit like that.

[QuickDraw]

Originally Posted by sue-fl

Call me stupid but if I had an extra 49million laying around it wouldn't be spent on a painting

But that does suck loosing a profit like that.

Bought it for $48M 9 years ago and was selling it for $139M.. sounds like a pretty good ROI to me! He's gotta feel like the worlds biggest dumbass though.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Simon

I'm not sure, Jim, that's not one of the tv shows I enjoy.

But before getting into the adult biz, one of my businesses was to create the kind of copies I mentioned. We had many very wealthy clients who had copies of their originals made for insurance reasons. They displayed the copy with no one the wiser, except their insurance company, which knew the real one was safely in the vault. Over the years I was involved with this, I heard many stories of copies sold as originals, destroyed or stolen and claimed as lost originals, etc.

Not that it compares with the price of Le Reve, but there's a copy of a Dali on my wall that Sotheby's authenticated and offered to buy outright for nearly $250K instead of listing for auction. The artist who created it is alive and well today.

So while it's possible the real Picasso was damaged, I wouldn't want to bet either way without a close examination of the painting.

The Law and Order was much more devious. It had everything, Nazis, Murder, Rape...etc

[digifan]

Poor guy.. and it was a painting only. A Picasso but his visions is more important imho.