It was a Saturday in July, perfect weather in Sagaponack, and Richard Prince walked to the door of his beach house wearing a shirt with one of his hippie drawings. He had on beat-up khakis and sneakers without socks. There was golf on the TV, paintings of flowers and birds and seashells on the walls.

Prince has been out East for a while. He got property in this secluded spot in the ’90s, when he followed his friend Glenn O’Brien to the houses near potato fields. It was pretty empty then, and collectors Don and Mera Rubell had a place nearby, so they would all get lunch. Later, Prince spent summers here with his family. Boogie boards and a surfboard his kids used growing up were leaning on the deck, filthy. They didn’t get to use them much anyway.

“The breaks off Wainscott Beach aren’

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