$70M Picasso Damaged Before Auction

Owner Steve Wynn has been down this road before
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 14, 2018 9:39 AM CDT
Mogul's Picasso Is Damaged. Again
Steve Wynn in a 2016 photo.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Pricey mistake: A Picasso worth an estimated $70 million had to be yanked from an auction at Christie's this week because it sustained damage as workers were preparing it. It's not clear how bad the damage is to Le Marin, or The Sailor, or even how the damage occurred, but the auction house said in a statement that two outside conservators "have made recommendations for the successful restoration of the painting," reports ABC News. One weird twist: The painting belongs to former casino mogul Steve Wynn, who previously had bad luck with a different Picasso painting.

Back in 2006, Wynn stuck his elbow through Picasso's Le Reve while showing it to friends in his Las Vegas office, reports Bloomberg, which adds that Wynn has a disease that messes up his peripheral vision. That restoration had a happy ending: The painting had been valued at $139 million prior to the damage, and Wynn eventually sold it for $155 million. This hasn't been a stellar year for Wynn: He stepped down as CEO of Wynn Resorts amid a slew of sexual harassment allegations. (More Pablo Picasso stories.)

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