About Guide to Hotels, Charlyn Chisholm, reports that casino and hotel tycoon Steve Wynn might want to tone down his hand gestures a bit in the future when he's displaying his art collection to friends, after an enthusiastic Wynn rammed his elbow through Pablo Picasso's Le Rêve (1932). It should be noted that Mr. Wynn suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive disorder that has left him with very limited peripheral vision. He is also enthusiastic about raising funds to combat this genetic condition, and is said to have told the stunned guests who witnessed the misplaced elbow that he was happy he'd caused the damage, rather than one of them. (Now, that's a first-rate example of 'grace under pressure.')

Wynn had just sold the canvas for an alleged $140 million (US), though now of course the sale is a no-starter as Le Rêve will be going through an extensive, expensive repair process. But wait! The back story gets even more titillating. If the sale had taken place, Wynn (currently #107 on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list) would have sold - at $140 million - the Most Expensive Painting Ever. This would've represented something of a coup, topping Ronald Lauder's (#103 on the Forbes list) June 2006 purchase of Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) for a reported $135 million. Did you catch all that? Personally, the thought of all those zeros made me feel a little disoriented. But the gist of the matter is that the Klimt portrait has now twice trumped a Picasso (once at auction and once by default) to reign as Most Expensive champion. Picasso would be most displeased.