It’s been quite the relationship between Steve Wynn and ‘Le Reve’. It’s been a saga that’s turned out a real corker of a story. It’s a tale of love, money and misfortune, and it’s infinitely better than the recent palaver with Munch’s ‘Scream’. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years and the tale has passed you by, it goes a little like this; Wynn picked up the Picasso painting of his lover, Marie-Thérèse, in 1997 for a reported $48.4 million. Then he decided to sell the painting to hedge-fund honcho Steven Cohen. They agreed on a price, apparently, an incredible $139 million, and a sale was imminent; so close that Cohen practically had the work hanging in his bedroom. His people had checked 'Le Reve' out, declared it perfect, and all that was to be done was an exchange of cash and canvas. It was a match made in heaven, least it was until Wynn somehow managed to elbow the work leaving a hole the size of a ‘silver dollar’ slap bang in the middle of Marie-Thérèse’s forearm. Dear. Dear. Give him his due, Wynn has an eye problem, something called retinitis pigmentosa, which frankly sounds pretty nasty and in Wynn’s case, rather expensive. Still, given the work took Picasso a couple of hours to paint, it kind of puts the whole (no pun intended) thing into perspective...Still. It must have been a pretty shitty week, or year, for Wynn. ‘Le Reve’ is now said to be worth around $85 million and Wynn has since lost his claim for $54 million, which he's submitted to Lloyd’s. Now the Vegas mogul is said to be planning to sue his insurer. So, I say it’s a some story, but really it’s so far from over.
No comments:
Post a Comment