Wynn Is Said to Be Selling $150 Million of Warhol, Picasso Works
Wynn Is Said to Be Selling $150 Million of Warhol, Picasso Works
(Bloomberg) -- Embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn is selling several works by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso estimated at more than $150 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The billionaire former chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd., who stepped down in February amid sexual harassment allegations that he’s denied, is the anonymous seller of at least three paintings offered at Christie’s next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Another of Wynn’s paintings was sold last month at Art Basel Hong Kong, one of the people said. Wynn and Christie’s declined to comment.
The most valuable of the group is Picasso’s 1943 self-portrait in a striped sailor shirt, “Le Marin.” Estimated at about $70 million, it will be offered during Christie’s evening sale of Impressionist and modern art on May 15, according to the auction house. Also on the block that night will be the Spanish master’s 1964 portrait of a woman with a cat, “Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil,” estimated at $25 million to $35 million. It fetched $18 million at Christie’s in 2010.
Warhol’s 1963 “Double Elvis [Ferus Type]," depicts Elvis Presley dressed as a cowboy and shooting from the hip. It’s estimated at more than $30 million and will be part of a postwar and contemporary evening sale on May 17, Christie’s said. The painting last appeared at auction in 2012 when it fetched $37 million at Sotheby’s. At the time it was bought by the Mugrabi family, which owns one of the world’s largest private Warhol collections.
Wynn, 76, one of the top U.S. collectors of modern and contemporary art, had already parted with Warhol’s 1981 “Superman." The painting was exhibited by Acquavella Galleries at Art Basel Hong Kong. The asking price was $19.5 million and the work sold during the fair, according to the New York gallery, which declined to identify the consignor. “Superman" fetched $14.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2015.
Some of the upcoming sales were reported earlier Monday by Artnet.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum, Steven Crabill
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