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MONACO — In what appears at first glance to be a simple, magnanimous act, a Russian billionaire is poised this week to return two Picassos, valued at $30 million, to the artist’s stepdaughter, who says the works, both portraits of her mother — Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s second wife — were stolen from her.
摩纳哥——乍看之下，这是一个淳朴而崇高的行为——本周（9月20日至9月26日），一位俄罗斯亿万富翁准备把两幅价值3000万美元的毕加索画作还给这位艺术家的继女。后者声称，这两幅她母亲（毕加索第二任妻子杰奎琳·罗克[Jacqueline Roque]）的肖像画是从她那里偷走的。
The businessman, Dmitry E. Rybolovlev, owner of one of the world’s most valuable art collections, said in an interview last week that he bought the works in good faith in 2013, without any hint that there was a question about their title.
商人德米特里·E·雷博洛夫列夫(Dmitry E. Rybolovlev)拥有一批世界上最为值钱的艺术品。上周接受采访时，他说，2013年，他秉承诚信原则买下这两幅画，完全不知道归属权有问题。
“I feel solidarity with her, especially because there is a strong emotional link between the portraits of her and her mother,” Mr. Rybolovlev said in the interview from his penthouse apartment here overlooking the Mediterranean.
“我认同她的主张，特别是考虑到她和母亲肖像之间具有强烈的情感联系，”雷博洛夫列夫在俯瞰地中海的顶层公寓里接受采访时说。
But Mr. Rybolovlev’s decision is much more than just a chivalrous, expensive gesture. The man from whom he bought the portraits, Yves Bouvier, is also Mr. Rybolovlev’s adversary in what has become perhaps the largest feud in the art world today. And by returning the art in such a public fashion, he is drawing attention to their broader fight.
但是，雷博洛夫列夫的决定绝不仅仅是因为慷慨正直。他是从伊夫·布维耶(Yves Bouvier)那里买到这两幅肖像画的。后者是他的对手，他们之间的争执可能是当今艺术界最高量级的。雷博洛夫列夫以如此公开的方式归还艺术品，引起人们对他们更大争斗的注意。
For the past year, Mr. Rybolovlev has been battling Mr. Bouvier in courtrooms in Paris, Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong in a dispute that has shed light on some of the murkier corners of the international art market. He has accused Mr. Bouvier, who helped him amass his collection, of fraud by overcharging him as much as $1 billion for multiple pieces of art.
在过去的一年里，雷博洛夫列夫在巴黎、摩纳哥、新加坡和香港的法庭上与布维耶对峙，这些纠纷反映出国际艺术市场较为阴暗的一面。布维耶曾帮助他收集藏品。他指控布维耶诈骗，在多件艺术品上共多收了他10亿美元。
Karen Boyer, a New York art adviser, said the dispute was “being watched pretty widely.”
纽约艺术顾问卡伦·博耶(Karen Boyer)说，这场纠纷“得到了广泛关注”。
“A movie could be made out of it,” she added.
“都能拍成电影了，”她补充说。
The feud began last year, Mr. Rybolovlev said, when by chance he met an art adviser over lunch during a Caribbean vacation and discovered that — in a purchase arranged by Mr. Bouvier — he had paid $118 million for a Modigliani painting that a hedge fund billionaire, Steven A. Cohen, had sold for only $93.5 million.
雷博洛夫列夫说，争执始于去年，当时他在加勒比地区度假，午餐时无意中遇到一位艺术顾问，发现按照布维耶的安排，他支付1.18亿美元购买了一幅莫迪利亚尼(Modigliani)的油画，而那幅画原来的主人、对冲基金亿万富翁史蒂文·A·科恩(Steven A. Cohen)当时的售价仅为9350万美元。
Now, by returning the Picassos as planned in Paris on Thursday, Mr. Rybolovlev is supporting Picasso’s stepdaughter, Catherine Hutin-Blay, whose theft claim is being investigated by French officials.
雷博洛夫列夫计划周四（9月24）在巴黎归还毕加索的肖像画。他想通过此举支持毕加索的继女凯瑟琳·于坦-布莱(Catherine Hutin-Blay)。法国警方正在调查这桩盗窃案。
But Mr. Bouvier complains he is being unfairly attacked by an art-world insider who understands the rules completely. He says he believed he had legally purchased the Picasso works, and their return, he said, is being staged only to embarrass him.
不过，布维耶说，他遭到一位完全了解规则的艺术界内部人士的不正当攻击。他说，他坚信自己购买毕加索那两幅作品的行为是合法的；他还说，雷博洛夫列夫归还作品只是为了让他难堪。
“It’s a pure media show,” said Mr. Bouvier, 52, who nonetheless was ordered by the French court to deposit the price of the portraits while the inquiry progresses.
“这纯粹是演给媒体看的，”52岁的布维耶说。不过，法国法院要求他在调查期间上缴这两幅肖像画的价款。
Though it is his work as an art dealer and adviser that has drawn fire from Mr. Rybolovlev, Mr. Bouvier, a Swiss businessman, is better known as a man who runs an expanding network of freeports, the largely tax-free storage depots where wealthy collectors now store so many of their treasures.
虽然布维耶是作为艺术交易商和顾问引发雷博洛夫列夫攻击的，但这位瑞士商人经营的庞大自由港网络更为出名。那些自由港主要是免税储藏库。如今，富有的收藏家们在这些储存库里存放了很多宝物。
The dispute would be noteworthy if it were only a clash of giant egos. But Mr. Rybolovlev says his goal is larger. Sitting in his Monte Carlo home, Mr. Rybolovlev, a trim, reserved man of 48, announced with clinical detachment his hope of focusing attention on the often opaque nature of transactions in the art market, where buyers often do not know the identity of sellers.
如果这场纠纷只是两个非常自负的人之间的冲突，那它可能不是这么值得关注。但是雷博洛夫列夫说，他的目标更大。48岁的雷博洛夫列夫身材修长、矜持寡言，他在位于蒙特卡洛的家中以冷静超然的态度声称，他希望人们关注艺术市场交易的不透明性，在这里买家经常不知道卖家的身份。
“If the market were more transparent, these things wouldn’t happen,” he said.
“如果艺术市场更透明，就不会发生这些事了，”他说。
The two men met in 2003, when Mr. Bouvier began helping Mr. Rybolovlev with his collection. Trained as a physician, Mr. Rybolovlev made his fortune in the production and export of potash fertilizer after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Forbes currently estimates his worth at more than $8 billion. Through family trusts, he has bought a Greek island, Monaco’s soccer team and real estate around the world, including Donald Trump’s former oceanfront home in Florida.
2003年，布维耶和雷博洛夫列夫相遇，前者开始帮助后者收集艺术品。雷博洛夫列夫学医出身，苏联解体后，他依靠钾肥生产和出口而聚集起财富。据《福布斯》(Forbes)估计，目前他的资产超过80亿美元。通过家族信托，他买下了一座希腊小岛和摩纳哥足球队，并在世界各地购买房产，包括唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在佛罗里达海岸的旧居。
He has also spent nearly $2 billion on art, relying often on Mr. Bouvier’s contacts to obtain works by El Greco, van Gogh, Matisse and others.
他还花费近20亿美元购买艺术品，大多是通过布维耶联系，包括埃尔·格雷科(El Greco)、梵高(van Gogh)和马蒂斯(Matisse)等人的作品。
Mr. Bouvier is known as the “king of the freeports” because he is the main operator or lead private investor in three of the half-dozen or so major freeports that are known to specialize in art. His private transportation company and high-tech warehouses in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore draw business from wealthy collectors who want to store and trade their possessions privately with tax advantages.
布维耶以“自由港之王”闻名，因为他是三个专门储存艺术品的大型免税仓库的主要经营者或主要私人投资者。这样的大型仓库共有六个左右。他在瑞士、卢森堡和新加坡经营的私人运输公司和高科技仓库对富有收藏家具有吸引力。那些收藏家想在这些地方储存和私下交易藏品，享受税收优惠。
In these roles, he circulates on the global art circuit, building a network of contacts that he puts to work for his art-buying clients, like Mr. Rybolovlev, who was his biggest. “That is the way of the art market,” said Mr. Bouvier, a wiry man who wore sneakers to an interview at a Geneva steakhouse. “It’s a hunt for information.” And those who collect it, he said, expect to be paid.
布维耶凭借自己的这些身份在全球艺术界周旋，建立联络网，为购买艺术品的客户服务，雷博洛夫列夫就曾是他最大的客户。身体结实的布维耶穿着帆布鞋在日内瓦的一家牛排馆里接受采访时说，“艺术品市场就是这样，关键是搜寻信息。”他表示，能搞到信息的人自然希望拿到酬劳。
Larry Gagosian, the New York art dealer, is among those who question whether Mr. Bouvier should be both storing and selling art since running a warehouse gives him privileged information about collectors’ art holdings.
有些人质疑布维耶既储存又出售艺术品的做法是否正当，因为经营仓库让他拥有了解收藏者艺术品持有情况的特权。纽约艺术品交易商拉里·加戈西安(Larry Gagosian)就是质疑者之一。
“I’d consider it a terrible conflict of interest and would never keep art long term in the warehouse of a dealer,” Mr. Gagosian said.
“我认为那样做存在严重的利益冲突，我永远不会把艺术品长期放在交易商的仓库里，”加戈西安说。
Mr. Rybolovlev acknowledges, though, that he had full confidence in Mr. Bouvier during a period when, by his account, they spent much time together on his private Greek island or in the soccer stands at Monaco.
不过，雷博洛夫列夫承认，有一段时间，他对布维耶完全信任。据他所述，他们在他的希腊私人小岛或摩纳哥的足球看台上共度过了许多时光。
Though Mr. Bouvier acknowledges socializing with Mr. Rybolovlev, he says the two were not close. “I never spoke to him directly for more than two minutes on the ski lift,” said Mr. Bouvier, who noted that they communicated through translators because the Russian businessman spoke little French or English.
布维耶虽然承认与雷博洛夫列夫有往来，但表示两人并不是特别熟。布维耶提到，因为这位俄罗斯商人几乎不会说法语或英语，所以他们只能通过翻译交流。他说，“在滑雪缆车上，我从未直接对他说话超过两分钟。”
Everyone agrees their relationship suddenly soured late last year as they argued over payments and disputed the terms under which they were doing business. Mr. Rybolovlev says he had believed Mr. Bouvier was acting as his intermediary in their transactions, negotiating the best price and taking a 2 percent fee, based on the purchase price.
所有人都同意，去年年底，他们因报酬和交易条款发生争执，关系突然恶化。雷博洛夫列夫说，他本来以为布维耶在交易中担任中介角色，谈出最佳价格，然后拿走购买价2%的中介费。
In emails to the Russian’s adviser, Mr. Bouvier appeared to portray himself as negotiating hard terms or, in one example, urging Mr. Rybolovlev to make a speedy purchase because “the seller is very old and has a heart condition.” Mr. Bouvier, though, said it was always clear that he was operating as an independent seller who could buy the art and resell on his own terms and charge Mr. Rybolovlev what the market would bear.
在给雷博洛夫列夫顾问的邮件中，布维耶似乎表现出强硬的谈判态度，催促雷博洛夫列夫快速购买，因为“卖家年纪很大，有心脏病”。不过，布维耶说，自己是独立卖家这一点一直很明显，他购买艺术品，然后自行转卖，向雷博洛夫列夫收取市场价。
Last January, Mr. Rybolovlev filed a criminal complaint in Monaco, asserting that his trusted adviser had been secretly marking up the works that he obtained on the collector’s behalf. Mr. Bouvier was arrested but released on bail, and the case is still unresolved.
去年1月，雷博洛夫列夫在摩纳哥提起刑事诉讼，指控他所信任的顾问暗自抬高以收藏者名义获得的艺术品的价格。布维耶因此被捕，不过获得保释，此案尚未判决。
Mr. Rybolovlev also went to court in Singapore, where Mr. Bouvier lives, to freeze $1.1 billion of Mr. Bouvier’s assets. But a court there lifted the freeze.
雷博洛夫列夫还在布维耶居住的新加坡起诉他，导致布维耶财产中的11亿美元遭到冻结。但当地的一个法院解除了冻结。
“It is at least doubtful, even if not wholly incredible, that the respondents genuinely believed that the remuneration for Mr. Bouvier’s services was limited to the 2 percent fee that the respondents plainly knew they were paying him,” the judge in the case wrote.
“原告真的认为布维耶的服务报酬最多就是他所知道的自己支付的2%，这一点至少值得怀疑，虽然这并非完全不可思议，”此案的法官写道。
Their latest skirmish involves the two portraits of Roque, who committed suicide in 1986. In testimony to French investigators earlier this year, Ms. Hutin-Blay, 67, said she had entrusted the gouache portraits of her mother and other works to a business partner of Mr. Bouvier’s to store for her in a vault outside Paris.
他们的最新冲突涉及罗克的两幅肖像画。罗克1986年自杀。今年早些时候，67岁的于坦-布莱在给法国警方的证词中说，她把母亲的水粉肖像画等作品委托给布维耶的一位商业合作伙伴，存放在巴黎郊区的一个仓库里。
Several years later, she said, an art restorer who worked for Mr. Bouvier’s company in the Geneva Freeport, told her that the painting had been brought there, restored and sold to Mr. Rybolovlev.
她说，几年后，一位在日内瓦免税港布维耶的公司工作的艺术品修复专家告诉她，那幅画被带到了那里，修复后卖给了雷博洛夫列夫。
In March, Ms. Hutin-Blay filed a legal complaint asserting that her property had been stolen.
今年3月，于坦-布莱提起法律诉讼，声称财产被盗。
For his part, Mr. Bouvier said that while he never met Ms. Hutin-Blay, he had believed intermediaries were representing her in the sale. Documents show he wired $8 million for the Picasso portraits in 2010 to the Nobilo Trust, of which, he said, he believed she was a beneficiary.
布维耶说，虽然他从未见过于坦-布莱，但他之前相信，中间人是代表她拍卖。资料显示，2010年，他花费800万美元从诺比洛信托公司(Nobilo Trust)购买了几幅毕加索肖像画。布维耶说，他认为于坦-布莱是那个公司的一位受益人。
“I am not crazy,” he said. “I’m not going to sell stolen art to someone who has bought 2 billion in art from me. He was my biggest client. I am not a fool.”
布维耶说，“我又没疯。我不会把一件偷来的艺术品卖给一个从我这里买了20亿美元艺术品的人。他曾是我最大的客户。我又不傻。”
But Ms. Hutin-Blay’s lawyer in Paris, Anne-Sophie Nardon, said that Ms. Hutin-Blay had never authorized the sale of the paintings or received the money. She declined further comment and would not discuss whether Ms. Hutin-Blay did have a relationship to the Nobilo Trust.
不过，于坦-布莱在巴黎的律师安妮-索菲·纳尔东(Anne-Sophie Nardon)说，于坦-布莱从未授权拍卖那些画，也没有收到钱。她拒绝进一步评论或讨论于坦-布莱与诺比洛信托公司是否有关系。
After they turn over the paintings on Thursday to Ms. Hutin-Blay’s lawyer, Mr. Rybolovlev’s representatives said, they expect French police investigators to take custody of them to authenticate the paintings and await the outcome of the judicial proceedings. But he said he was taking this step now because “I understand her emotional state.”
周四（9月24日），雷博洛夫列夫的代表们把那两幅移交给于坦-布莱的律师后说，希望法国警方保管这些画并鉴定真假，他们会等待审判结果。不过雷博洛夫列夫说，他现在这样做是因为“我理解她的心情”。
“It was a personal act of betrayal,” he said.
“这是个人背叛行为，”他说。
Mr. Bouvier’s French lawyer, Ron Soffer, pointed out that Mr. Bouvier had not been charged with a crime. Mr. Bouvier himself seemed unbowed during the interview last week, as he rummaged through a shopping bag full of documents that he said showed how unfair it was to suggest he had sold Mr. Rybolovlev stolen Picassos.
布维耶的法国律师罗恩·索弗(Ron Soffer)指出，布维耶没有获罪。在上周的采访中，布维耶本人似乎也不打算认罪。他翻寻一个装满文件的购物袋。他说，那些文件表明，说他把被盗的毕加索作品卖给雷博洛夫列夫是多么不公平。
“Just till now, I have been a gentleman,” he said. “But from now on, I am the resistance and I will reveal the truth.”
他说，“直到这一刻，我都是绅士。但是从今往后，我要当反抗者，我要把真相揭露出来。”
