In one of those nightmarish domino effects one can see in the world of fine art, the accident caused not just Le Marin but another of the trio of paintings (another Picasso entitled Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil) to be pulled from the auction block as well, as both works were guaranteed to sell by the same third party. Le Marin had a pre-sale estimate of $70 million, but fortunately for Wynn his plans for these three paintings didn’t completely collapse. The third painting, Double Elvis [Ferus Type], a portrait of Elvis Presley by Andy Warhol from 1963, did end up selling for $37 million against a pre-sale estimate of $30 million. Wynn’s attorney Michael Kosnitzky said, unsurprisingly, that Wynn was “angry about it,” referring to the damaged painting, and that the incident qualified as “gross, flagrant negligence,” but it’s not yet known what the next step will be or if the damage to the painting will be able to be repaired. Hopefully for not just Wynn and everyone else with a financial interest, but also art lovers all over the world, it will be.
