A newly released set of emails written and received by the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows that he discussed a plan by billionaire art collector Leon Black to buy a Picasso painting from Gagosian gallery.
Epstein’s ties to Black are well-documented and have occasionally been controversial for the latter, who departed his post as chair of the Museum of Modern Art’s board as their friendship came into focus in 2021. Black remains a trustee at that New York institution.
The emails provide an even clearer window onto Black and Epstein’s friendship—and suggest that the Epstein offered advice on how to buy art in at least one instance, as Urgent Matter reported last week.
Certain emails show that Epstein discussed Black’s intention to purchase an unnamed Picasso work from Gagosian for $100 million. Epstein raised questions about Gagosian’s structure for purchasing artworks. In one 2015 email to Melanie Spinella, seemingly a representative for Black, Epstein writes, “No written contract??!! Fishy to me. Who transfers 100 million dollars overseas without a contract?”
Based on the emails, it’s not clear if Black went through with the purchase from Gagosian nor exactly which artwork he was seeking to buy. ARTnews has reached out to Gagosian for comment.
The emails also show that Epstein gave advice on Black’s plans for purchasing art from Gagosian more broadly, at one point opining on an apparent strategy by Black that involved assigning purchase agreements to other family members, such as his wife Debra and his children. The emails do not definitively state whether Black ended up implementing that strategy.
Beyond artworks themselves, Epstein also aired his opinions on Artspace, the online marketplace for art that was acquired in 2014 by Phaidon, a London-based publishing house owned by Black. In an email from 2015, Epstein states that Phaidon and Artspace were worth a combined $96 million.
As ARTnews previously reported, Epstein also discussed having an “art guy” in other emails and discussed Salvator Mundi, a $450 million painting commonly attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
