The Price of Falling into a Picasso: $65 Million
The woman who tripped and hit a $130M Picasso painting apparently reduced its value by half. That's $25M more expensive than the time Steve Wynn put an elbow through his Picasso. Obviously, this is Picasso's fault for messing with perspective.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art won't release the identity of the lady who created the 6-inch tear in "The Actor," but they say they can repair the damage in time for next year's Picasso show. But the value depreciation will be steep:
"It's a 50 percent loss of the value — at least," van Weyenbergh, who has handled numerous Picassos, told The Post. "When an artwork comes up in auction, that's the first thing people want to know — were there any repaints or restorations.
"Even a small hole and Picasso collectors like [Steven] Spielberg are not going to be interested."
They prefer to poke the holes themselves. Cubist paintings: bubble wrap to the elite. [NYP]