A Picasso hanging in the lobby of the Four Seasons restaurant is safe — for now — after a judge ruled that owners of the building could cause catastrophic damage to the artwork if they move it.
The owners of the Seagram Building stunned the judge by arguing they can just replace the famed artist’s work if anything happened to it.
“If we break it, we buy it,” lawyer Andrew Kratenstein told Justice Matthew Cooper’s clerk outsude the courtroom.
“It’s a Picasso!” said New York Landmarks Conservancy president Peg Breen.
Cooper scoffed in court, “They didn’t really seriously suggest this was a matter of money?”
Breen hauled real-estate big Aby Rosen’s firm RFR to court to block it from moving the fragile, 20-foot painting from the Four Seasons hallway into storage.
Cooper sided with Breen, who fears that pulling the 95-year-old canvas, “Le Tricorne,” down from the wall could cause catastrophic damage to the piece.
“We’re not talking about wallpaper. We’re not talking about a poster. We’re talking about an irreplaceable Picasso!” Cooper said.
“It’s part of New York’s social and cultural fabric.”
He barred Rosen from moving the piece until the court issues a final ruling on its future.
The German-born real-estate mogul, whose taste in art is more Keith Haring and Andy Warhol than Pablo Picasso, had called the $1.6 million canvas a “shmatte,” Yiddish for “rag,” according to court papers.
He had arranged for a moving company to take down the artwork in the early morning hours of Feb. 16 so as not to disturb the Four Seasons’ clientele.
“It seems absurd that a work like this would be taken down at 3 a.m. on a Sunday so it can be removed in time for lunch or brunch at the Four Seasons,” Cooper said.
“And if something were to occur, no amount of money can make up for the loss of a Picasso.”
Cooper said the painting should stay in place until the court gives a final decision.
Picasso painted “Le Tricorne” as stage prop for a touring ballet in 1919. It was gifted to the not-for-profit in 2005 with the condition that it be exhibited at the Four Seasons.
The giant canvas has hung for 50 years in a part of the hotel dubbed “Picasso Alley.” The group argues that the inside of the hotel, including Picasso Alley, is landmarked and cannot be changed without its approval.
Rosen’s attorney declined to comment after the ruling.