Posted on 10/17/2006 9:34:51 AM PDT by Abathar
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 $135 million in July for Gustav Klimt's 1907 portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer I."
Wynn plans to restore "Le Reve" and keep it.
It is indeed. I had the pleasure of seeing it in its former owners home, where it had been for decades. As with so many works, repro's never do it justice.
Please don't think that he was "made" ..... the guy could flat out paint, sketch draw and create....
he was bred like Tiger Woods to be a great artist, but was also a shrewd businessman and took the styles of many types to develop what is the Picasso type he is famous for. He was an artist...no more no less... As for the kiddie style that is a matter of interpretation... It's a lot harder than it seems. I think..
Holy crap! How on earth did he manage to screw that painting up like that with just an elbow poke?
Fine. But why did he pick a Mistress with a penis growing out of her chin?
Have seen his pencil drawing. As perfect as one could imagine. An excellent draftsman, which is the main prerequisite to being a great artist. Got to be able to execute.
That is so %*#$% funny I am glad I was not drinking something at the time.
I did the same with the famous statue of the ballerina. I just had to touch the dress. The guard was polite. He said if everyone did what I did, there would be no dress left.
ROTFL!!!!!Perfection!
"Not anymore."
A little duct tape on the back, and it will be as good as new.
As someone who thinks that paying more than $100 for a work of art is absurd, I find this story hilarious
Picasso was, from what I can tell, reasonably competant when he tried to be. Unfortunately, once he discovered that he could produce dreck and use his 'expertise' to convince people it was prestigious art, he seems to have lost interest in quality forms that require hard work.
You may like the Picasso picture you showed, and I'll agree it's not bad, but I like much batter something like Iman Maleki's A Girl by the Window (available here Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but to me a good painting shouldn't make one overtly aware that it's a painting, but should instead be more real even than a photograph. Bouguereau achieved this pretty consistently. Some artists achieve it somewhat today. Picasso, for the most part, didn't try.
lol ;o
Lol. I witnessed something similar while on a tour of San Simeon, aka Hearst Castle.
An elderly gentleman sat down on some antique piece of furniture. No harm intended or done. The tour guide wasn't too pleased though.
Video of man accidentally crushing one-of-a-kind antique Edison cylinder gramophone recording
My kid sat on an original chair at Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis' home. The tour guide got quite upset, pulled out this preservation kit, put on gloves and cleaned the chair.
Not anymore.
"Look, don't try to be funny with me, monsieur. This is a very serious matter... and everyone in this rheum is under the suspicions...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.