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October 17, 2006

Oops!

Why does this make me think of a Monty Python sketch:

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.


Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at October 17, 2006 04:14 PM

Comments

I'll start the bidding at $1.

Posted by: Gunsniper at October 17, 2006 05:02 PM

"A stitch in time..." can save a couple million bucks.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at October 17, 2006 05:54 PM

I still have not figured out why anyone would pay more than $1.95 for a Picasso in any condition. And that only because you could cut it up into Cubist coasters.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at October 17, 2006 10:16 PM

That's possibly the most honest instant reaction I've heard in some time.

Posted by: Nightfly at October 18, 2006 02:31 AM

Now that would make me cry!

Posted by: getalifeagain at October 18, 2006 05:12 AM

Not for nothing, but how hard did he have to hit it with his elbow to punch a hole in canvas? Canvas is pretty tough stuff.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at October 18, 2006 07:14 AM