Throughout his art career Pablo Picasso created many exotic artworks. Le Reve was one such creation. Le Reve was created by Picasso on 24th January 1932 at the time when he was about fifty years old.
Picasso's Le Reve:
The historic painting Le Reve which was created by Picasso on an afternoon depicts a gracious young lady. In the painting, Picasso portrayed his 22 year old mistress Marie-Therese Walter. The lady in the portrait has been brilliantly shown in two different perspectives. In one of these, Walter was shown performing 'Fellatio' (a form of oral sex) which clearly suggests that the title of the painting refers more to Picasso's own thoughts rather than his mistress's dreams.
Le Reve Auction:
In 1941, Le Reve was purchased by Victor and Sally Ganz of New York City for $7,000. Their collection of 50-year collection of works began just by taking art from five different artists including Picasso, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Eva Hesse. This collection including Le Reve was sold at Christie's auction house on 11th November 1997. Le Rêve was sold for a very high amount around $48.4 million and became famous as the sixth most expensive painting sold. Le Reve was auctioned at Christie's in 1997 to an Austrian-born investment fund manager Wolfgang Flöttl. He is the same person who also owned Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet for a brief period in the late 1990s. In 2001, Wolfgang Flöttl, under a rigorous financial pressure, sold Le Reve to Steve Wynn a famous casino tycoon.
The Wynn Event:
Le Reve was an important artwork in the Wynn collection. In October 2006, Wynn decided to sell the painting for $139 million to Steven A. Cohen, but while showing the painting to reporters and guests, he accidentally created a six inch tear with his elbow, almost destroying the painting. Wynn utilized the event as a platform where he signed that the painting will never be sold. Le Reve was again repaired and evaluated for $90k million. This led to many further court proceedings. Finally the dispute was settled in April 2007 out of court.
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