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20 April 2007 / Philip Davis , Graham Ludlam
Issue: 7269 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Wynn or lose?

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When should contracts be discharged? Philip Davis and Graham Ludlam investigate

For the past decade Le Rêve (The Dream) by Pablo Picasso has been hanging on the wall of the offices of Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn. He bought the painting, which depicts Picasso’s mistress, for $48.4m in 1997. Wynn recently entered into a contract to sell the painting to hedge fund mogul and avid art collector Steven Cohen for $139m. However, before the contract could be performed, Wynn, who has little to no peripheral vision due to an eye condition, tore a coin-sized hole in the 75-year-old painting with his elbow while gesturing when explaining the painting’s history to friends.
 
The sale agreement was entered into the day before the accident, which Wynn says wiped $54m off the value of Le Rêve. The painting was professionally repaired, but Wynn claims the damage is still visible. The decrease in value has been the subject of an insurance claim which has generated its own litigation in the New York courts. Following the

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