Monday, Dec. 6, 1999 | noon
Mirage Resorts Inc. Chairman Steve Wynn spent $85,000 for a 17th Century wooden picture frame to highlight a Picasso oil he bought last summer, the Wall Street Journal said.
Finding the right frame for Picasso's "Personages II," which measures 76.75 inches by 51.25 inches, wasn't easy, the Journal said in its Friday Art & Money section.
"The right frame draws the viewer's attention to the painting, setting off its color and line; the wrong one sends eyes roaming," wrote Journal reporter Ken Bensinger.
"Thus collectors sometimes pay five-figure prices for frames, which are themselves bought and sold like paintings -- based on age, condition, provenance and artistic merit."
Wynn asked New York's Julius Lowy Frame & Resorting Co. to set him digital images of the painting surrounded by various 17th Century frames before settling on the one he bought.
The painting now hangs in the Picasso Restaurant at the Bellagio. The price of the painting wasn't disclosed.
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