PICASSO AND THE ELBOW INCIDENT

Steve Wynn is one of life's winners and has the good fortune to own many a valuable thing.

This includes 'Wynn', the most luxurious hotel on the Las Vegas strip, not to mention some wonderful art work and Picasso paintings. But back in 2006 he had an infamous accident which grabbed the headlines and made eyes roll in astonishment.

But surely the worldwide publicity that news of the accident generated was worth it? It reminded the world of a painting by Picasso, called Le Reve, which means the dream. It all began when Mr Wynn agreed to sell the painting which he owned to Connecticut billionaire Steve Cohen.

During a viewing of this wonderful painting in his office, prior to the sale, Mr Wyn's elbow made contact with the canvas and punctured a hole in it, specifically through the left forearm of Picasso's curvaceous mistress in the picture.

The Picasso in question is, 'Le Rêve', the 1932 portrait of the artist's mistress Marie-Therese Walters. It is one of numerous important canvases owned by Mr Wynn, many of which have adorned his casino resorts. Mr Wynn bought the Picasso picture in 1997 from another collector for $48.4m. However, it was when he recently agreed to sell the painting to a Steven Cohen, for $139m, that tragedy struck. Such was his excitement over the sale, that when he privately showed the painting to some close friends, among them the writer Nora Ephron and the broadcaster Barbara Walters, he accidently nudged the canvas with his elbow and made a dollar-sized hole in it.

According to reports, Mr Wynn, who is 64, suffers from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which means he has trouble with peripheral vision which could have been the cause of his clumsiness. The painting was promptly sent to a Manhattan restorer and despite the accident, Steve Cohen remained interested in the piece. Eventually he purchased it from Mr Wynn for $155 million, the cost of the damage being factored in.

The Picasso in question is, 'Le Rêve', the 1932 portrait of the artist's mistress Marie-Therese Walters. It is one of numerous important canvases owned by Mr Wynn, many of which have adorned his casino resorts. Mr Wynn bought the Picasso picture in 1997 from another collector for $48.4m. However, it was when he recently agreed to sell the painting to a Steven Cohen, for $139m, that tragedy struck. Such was his excitement over the sale, that when he privately showed the painting to some close friends, among them the writer Nora Ephron and the broadcaster Barbara Walters, he accidently nudged the canvas with his elbow and made a dollar-sized hole in it.

According to reports, Mr Wynn, who is 64, suffers from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which means he has trouble with peripheral vision which could have been the cause of his clumsiness. The painting was promptly sent to a Manhattan restorer and despite the accident, Steve Cohen remained interested in the piece. Eventually he purchased it from Mr Wynn for $155 million, the cost of the damage being factored in.

We respect Mr Cohen for his love of art and willingness to take such a risk and salute Mr Wynn's interaction with a piece of art which has given it some notoriety and which has surely increased its value. (I speculate that it has added ten percent to its value but this is an uninformed opinion.)

For more information about Steve Wynn go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wynn#The_Wynn_Art_Collection