Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn was a happy man ... showing off an original Picasso (Le Reve, 1932) that he had just agreed to sell for $139 million -- "the most money ever paid for a painting," he bragged. Then, as he was telling a group of onlookers the artwork's storied history and pointing out its phallic imagery ... his arm went into the air and his elbow went right through it. Put a hole the size of a silver dollar in the middle of Picasso's mistress's forearm. Yeow.
The new issue of the New Yorker has a story on the mishap, and blogger Nora Ephron witnessed the accidental puncture firsthand. An appraiser puts the damage at $40 million. That almost makes Andy Beal's losses at the Wynn look piddling.
