Holed Masters Art Row in Court

Steve Wynn must have very sharp elbows. The Las Vegas casino mogul and art collector made the news in September when he accidentally bumped into Picasso's Le Rêve, one of the jewels of his collection, knocking a hole in the canvas with his elbow. Now Mr Wynn is suing his insurers, Lloyd's of London, for $54m (£27.6m), the amount he says the painting's value fell after the accident.

The day before damaging the 1932 painting, Mr Wynn had agreed to sell it to hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen for $139m. That deal, which would have made it the most expensive painting ever sold, was called off after the painting sustained what Mr Wynn described as a "silver-dollar-size hole" in the arm of its subject, Picasso's mistress Marie-Theresa Walter. The damage has been repaired, but a restorer said it was now worth only $85m.

In court papers filed in New York, attorneys for Mr Wynn argue that Lloyd's, after inspecting the painting last month, has not paid the $54m he is claiming, nor has it revealed the results of its appraisal of the painting's value. Mr Wynn's policy to insure his collection - which includes works by Vermeer, Matisse, Van Gogh, Warhol and Turner - dates from last July.

Mr Wynn, 64, damaged the painting at his office in Las Vegas while showing it to friends. According to one witness, after knocking the hole in the canvas, he exclaimed: "Oh shit, look what I've done."