The Costly Chaos Behind 20 Legendary Estates

First came the inventory. Paintings leaned against studio walls, drawings filled folders, ceramics occupied shelves, sculptures stood in rooms, and sketchbooks preserved ideas that had never become finished works. Pablo Picasso had retained an extraordinary amount of his own output, leaving more than 45,000 works and objects when he died in France in 1973. He had not left a will. Seven heirs, drawn from a complicated family history involving marriages, relationships, children, and grandchildren, had to negotiate ownership while experts cataloged and valued a body of art almost too large to comprehend.