Picasso's 'The Dream'

Picasso met Marie-Therese by chance, on the street. Entralled by her, he took her by the arm and introduced himself. He kept their affair secret for a long time, but in 1932 she started showing up in his paintings.

Picasso said, 'A painting comes too me from afar; who knows how far; I divined it, I saw it, I did it, but even so , the next day, I cannot see what I have done myself. How can anyone penetrate my dreams, my instincts, my desires, my thoughts, which have taken so long to develop and to see the light of day, and comprehend what I have put into it, perhaps even against my will.'

Marie Therese Walter eventually bore Picasso a daughter, Maia. This work is important because of the curves, pretty much every characteristic of her body is bordered by a curve.

The big new style in painting in the 1930's was Surrealism, a celebration of the illogical workings of the subconscious mind. Picasso became interested in surrealism. Dreams are a favorite Surrealist theme.

Surrealists were also fascinated in Freudian Psychology, which of course suggests that much of our conscious lives motivated by our unconscious sexuality. As an unrepentant philanderer, this no doubt aroused Picasso's interest (no pun intended).

This painting contains a hidden phallus in the upper part of Marie 's head and shows up again as a motif (pattern) in the face of the right hand figure and a number of other phallus motifs elsewhere in the painting. Needless to say, this is a very sensual artwork, charged with eroticism. There are even theories and rumors about how, and where Marie is holding her hands and why.

Sorry if this makes anyone uncomfortable or icky. I'm not writing this to turn you on or to get my own kicks. Frankly, the phallic on her face kinda grossed me out when I first read about it. It's just such an amazing, beautiful, restful, pretty painting that I wanted to learn more about it. Knowing makes it even more interesting. You can imagine how people in 1932 might have been absolutely outraged.

But recently, 'The Dream' became famous for completely different reasons; it's blind, clumbsy owner...

A US casino mogul has pulled out of a deal to sell his Picasso painting for a record $139m after accidentally elbowing a hole in the middle.

Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn was showing Le Reve (The Dream) to guests at his office in Las Vegas last month.

Mr Wynn, who has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease affecting peripheral vision, tore a coin-sized hole.

He will now keep the painting, which he bought in 1997 for $48.4m, and repair it, his spokeswoman said.