 |
France
YSL art sale hits record prices
Article published on the 2009-02-24 Latest update 2009-02-24 16:07 TU
The Grand Palais awaits the start of the auction on Monday
(Photo: Reuters)
The auction of the art collection of the late French fashion designer Yves St Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé hit records for a number of works by modern artists and Old Masters on Monday evening and Tuesday. The world's super-rich turned out in force at Paris's Grand Palais museum for the sale, organised by auctioneers Christie's.
The sale has shrugged off the world financial crisis, raising millions for Bergé's charitable foundation and Aids research.
Old Masters were going like hot cakes on Tuesday, with Théodore Géricault's Portrait of Alfred and Elisabeth Dedreux raising eight million euros, not counting fees, dwarfing its estimated price of 4-6 million euros.
Dutch artist Frans Hals's Portrait of a Man Holding a Book sold at more than three times its estimated price at 3.1 million euros, while another portrait, British artist Thomas Gainsborough's painting of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, fetched 1.9 million euros, compared to the 400,000 to 600,000 euros expected.
French painter Jean-Auguset-Dominque Ingres failed to reach his target, however. His Portrait of the Comtesse de La Rue sold for only 1.8 million euros. The auctioneers had hoped it would go for as much as three million.
Composition dans l'usine and Profil Noir by Fernand Léger and Il Ritornante by Giorgio de Chirico
( Photo: Reuters)
More than 206 million euros was raised on Monday evening in a sale of modern works, including a sculpture never before seen in public, Madame LR by Constantin Brancusi, and a "ready-made" by Marcel Duchamp, Belle Haleine - Eau de Voilette - a slightly altered factory-produced perfume bottle which sold for 7.6 million euros before fees.
Furniture and objets d'art are being sold Tuesday evening, while Wednesday should see older pieces on the block, including two controversial Chinese bronzes.
A French court on Monday rejected a case brought by the Apace organisation, which campaigns for the protection of Chinese art in the country, to prevent their sale.
Although Bergé and St Laurent bought the pieces legally, they were stolen 150 years ago.
The group's lawyer said that he was not surprised by the judgement and that the purpose of the case was to draw public attention to the fact that France has not signed the international convention on stolen and illegally exported cultural objects.
