THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Chase Peterson-Withorn
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| (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images) |
When Elaine Wynn first laid eyes on
Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” triptych, she says she was “gobsmacked.” Much to her delight, she won the auction with a bid of $142.4 million after commission. “My tastes are very eclectic,” Wynn says. “I’m not really worried about what’s the hot thing on the market right now.” The result is a varied collection that Forbes estimates to be worth some $375 million, full of big names — besides the Bacon triptych, there’s Manet’s “Portrait of Mademoiselle Suzette Lemaire” and Freud’s “The Painter Surprised By A Naked Admirer,” for example — and lesser-known works like a set of paintings Wynn recently picked up in Cuba for less than $10,000. [
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| Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” which Wynn purchased in late 2013 for a then-record-breaking $142.4 million. (AP Photo/Christie’s) |
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| Lucian Freud’s “The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer” (Raphael GAILLARDE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images) caption |
