De Kooning Art Coup

Hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen is reported to have paid about $137 million in a private deal brokered by New York art dealer Larry Gagosian for de Kooning's 1952 painting “Woman III”. This might well be in the most important de Kooning art still in private hands. David Geffen - the seller - has sold four paintings for $420 million in the last month and insiders say he may be stoking up for a bid for The Los Angeles Times. “Woman III” comes with from an unsual background having being swopped by a museum in Iran for a precious 16th-century manuscript showing the Shah of Persia ascending to the throne. Irish Art