Four years ago, in 2018, a fire broke out on the third floor of Revlon beauty magnate Ron Perelman’s Hamptons home. Reports at the time said most of his multimillion-dollar art collection had survived unscathed, but a contentious $400m (£337m) lawsuit working through the New York courts claims that five of the paintings hanging on lower floors have lost their “oomph” as a result of smoke and water damage.
The lawsuit pits Perelman’s holding companies against the collection’s insurers, which include Lloyd’s of London, in a high-stakes battle that some say has come to typify the newly litigious nature of the art world that used to operate on a handshake and a simple sales receipt, but now relies on voluminous contracts peppered with stipulations and clauses.
