Picasso Sale for $155 Million Sets a Record

Pablo Picasso - Le Reve (The Dream) - 1932 - oil on canvas - 130 × 97 cm (click photo for larger image)You may recall that, back in 2006, Steve Wynn put his elbow right through a Picasso painting in his collection, right at the moment when he had made a deal to sell it. The same billionaire hedge fund manager has now “bought Picasso's Le Rêve for $155 million - $16 million more than he first agreed to pay....”

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Steven A. Cohen (of SAC Capital) bought himself the belated gift after first agreeing to buy it for $139 milllion in 2006 from Vegas mogul Steve Wynn. In addition to getting $16 million more dollars for the painting than he’d anticipated, Wynn also received a $45 million insurance payout from Lloyd's of London for the damage done to the painting. It’s now been completely restored.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) painted this work of his then lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter when she was the tender age of 22. The modern master was age 50 at the time. Picasso’s style was always evolving, and this work belongs to a body of brightly colored distorted depictions, which he developed in bright colors. Critics have often discuss the erotic content of this work--suggesting that the face of the woman contains and erect penis.

Picasso was--by far--the most prolific painter in the history of art. Over 23,000 works of his have already been catalogued, and that process continues. It’s said that he painted Le Rêve in a single afternoon.