Leon Black Purchased $115 M. Picasso from Gagosian via Jeffrey Epstein

The newly released Jeffrey Epstein dossier from the U.S. Department of Justice reveals that Epstein was personally involved in the high-profile deal between Gagosian Gallery and Leon Black, suggesting that Epstein’s role in liaising between major galleries and mega-collectors was deeper than previously known.

New documents include many related to sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1931 sculpture Buste de Femme (Marie-Thérèse). While it was previously reported that Black won the piece through Gagosian after a legal battle, it was not known that Epstein was one of the guiding forces behind the deal.

Before the $115 million work caused a stir when it appeared in the 2015 “Picasso Sculptures” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Epstein received emails from Black’s legal representatives who appeared to seek advice on the purchase. In an April 2015 email, one of Black’s lawyers showed Epstein a working legal agreement that included changes proposed by Gagosian and herself. Epstein wrote back: “Well done.”

Epstein appears to have been involved in months-long conversations about purchasing the sculpture. By December of that year, he was still asking how to buy it. “Larry was able to edit his own account i=fo,” Epstein wrote in an email on December 9, 2015. “I would like to see exactly where the money went.”

About a month later, news of the lawsuit over the purchase of the work became public. The lawsuit, filed by Larry Gagosian, accuses the artist’s daughter, Maya Widmaier-Picasso, of selling the work to him (on behalf of a then-unnamed private collector) and the Qatari royal family. After a settlement was reached, the work was ultimately delivered to Black via Gagosian.

The documents also reveal a long list of artworks collected by Black in 2017. Buste de Femme (Marie-Thérèse) Right up there. By then, the sculpture’s value had grown to more than $125 million, documents show.

Black and Epstein were known to work closely together, with Epstein often providing financial advice to Black when he was CEO of Apollo Global Management, the investment firm Black co-founded. Black resigned from the position in 2021 amid scrutiny of payments he made to Epstein before he was convicted of sex crimes.

Black, who served as chairman of the Museum of Modern Art’s board of directors and remains a trustee of the institution, paid $62.5 million to the Virgin Islands in 2023 to settle all Epstein-related claims. Black denied wrongdoing at the time.

The newly released documents provide the clearest picture yet of Epstein’s possessions in Black’s collection. In 2012, the two even appeared to hatch a plan to form an art foundation in Delaware called the Black Arts Foundation to provide guidance for lending art to Black’s collection. It’s unclear whether the foundation was ever established, according to Justice Department documents.

What is clear, however, is that Epstein personally helped his friend acquire art for his extensive collection, which ranged from Renaissance art to postwar paintings.

For example, in 2012, Epstein personally worked with lawyers to help Black exchange an unnamed 1961 Rothko painting worth $46 million for a $48 million Picasso painting held by Gagosian. In the document, Picasso’s painting is titled Mateu Fernandez de Soto Dated 1901, this seems to link this piece to a similarly titled artwork from the same year Art Network News It has been called an “early masterpiece”.

“I can help deal with Roscoe, but it shouldn’t be too difficult…,” Epstein wrote in an email to his attorney before the deal. “If an accommodation can be found, the painting must be shipped to Delaware to avoid sales tax and consummate the new transaction.” The documents do not indicate whether Blake and Gagosian successfully conducted the exchange.

The documents also include numerous emails related to Blake’s attempts to purchase a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, whose name is unknown. In emails with lawyers, Epstein was involved in discussions about the work with Gagosian, Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Epstein even corresponded with Black personally after the Sotheby’s auction in 2017, sending him a message that read: “???!!”

The extent to which Epstein coordinated directly with Gagosian representatives is unclear. But Epstein does not appear to be directly related to Larry Gagosian himself. In a heavily redacted 2019 email exchange, an unidentified sender asked Epstein: “Are you a friend of Larry Gagosian?” Epstein responded: “No, why?”

Representatives for Black and Gagosian did not respond to requests for comment.