Picasso as potato chip

El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat or Le tricorne) is a ballet choreographed by Leonide Massine with music by Manuel de Falla commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes that premiered in 1919.  Diaghilev also commissioned sets and costumes by none other than Pablo Picasso.  After this production and needing some cash Diaghilev had the center cut out of the curtain and sold it to a Swiss collector.  In 1957 it was bought by Seagram liquor nabob Samuel Bronfman (for $50,000) and, in 1959, it was installed in the entryway to the Four Seasons Restaurant in the architecturally ballyhooed Seagram Building on Park Avenue.
 

This last December a controversy erupted because Aby Rosen, the current owner of the Seagram Building, hates it and wants it OUT OF HERE! and proceeded to arrange for its removal.  The excrement hit the fan and everybody, including the NYC Landmarks folks (although they do not have jurisdiction) has jumped in with muddy feet to try to save the curtain (named Le Tricorne, after the ballet) as is, in place.  Basically a theatrical artifact and huge (vertically 19 feet), it is not considered a “major” Picasso and Christie’s valued it (in 2008) at “only” $1.6 million.  Also it is (allegedly) very fragile and could fall apart “like a potato chip” if it’s removed.  And just who gets to say what a “major” Picasso is and, for that matter, what kind of potato chip?  Everything connected to Picasso’s name is major, even the tee-shirt I own with his signature emblazoned across the front.
 
I betcha if that big ol’ Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Arkansas offered a cool $5 million, or so, everybody could get on board with selling it and, suddenly, it wouldn’t be so fragile after all.  What say you to that, you art connoisseurs at Walmart?