For more than half a century, Picasso's curtain masterpiece "Le Tricorne" adorned the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City. 

Over the weekend, the 1919 famed, fragile $1.6 million artwork was removed from the restaurant lobby by 25 workers over 14 hours, with one worker stating that they had to swaddle the piece "like a baby".

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Workers had to carefully wrap the 95-year old canvas with plastic for three hours.

The removal was brought about by a court battle between conservationists and the building owners, who wanted to stuff the piece in storage in order to clean the wall behind it.

Reportedly, one of the owners even referred to the painting as "shmatte" or Yiddish for "rag."

With conservationists managing to get a deal to restore the work in Massachusetts, the artwork will be safely handled before it is handed over to the the New York Historical Society to be displayed.

Four Seasons regular Robert Carlin shared, "That was a real piece of the history of Midtown, New York. Whenever I went to the Four Seasons, I took a long look. It's a beautiful work by Picasso.''

Like Carlin, many of the restaurant's regulars have eaten in the restaurant just to get a glimpse of the painting. 

One of the restaurant's managing partners, Julian Niccolini, shared that reservations have been piling up ever since news of the painting's removal was announced. 

"I've seen a tremendous amount of reservations, a tremendous number of people coming to see the Picasso for the final time," Niccolini shared.

On the other hand, real estate mogul Aby Rosen doesn't understand what the fuss is about, saying that the painting isn't even a real Picasso.

Rosen shared with Vanity Fair that Picasso never laid hands on the piece and, that it was even cut to fit the space in the Seagram Building."It was supposed to go somewhere else. It ended up there because nobody wanted to piss away the $50,000 they paid for it," Rosen claimed.Phyllis Lambert, Samuel Bronfman's daughter responsible for placing the Picasso in the building, denied Rosen's allegations.