Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Still Le Rêve

Marc Spiegler has a good piece on Steve Wynn's insurance claim for his damaged Picasso, including the complete complaint, over at artnet. Before the accident, Wynn had a deal to sell the painting for $139 million. He now claims it's worth $85 million. Spiegler's advice to Lloyd's:

"Perhaps rather than haggling over the claim they should just outright offer to buy Le Rêve and then sell it immediately. If they truly believe the market value is higher than $85 million, this would cut their losses substantially. Or they could hold onto it as an investment. Because, as Amy Cappellazzo of Christie's points out, the incident may have little long-term impact on the portrait’s value: 'It’s still Picasso’s Le Rêve. If you blocked off the windows at the Met and turned on a UV light, you would see all kinds of tears and patches and varnishes in the masterpieces.'"

Lots more Spiegler here.