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PARIS - Crisis? What crisis? The record-trampling sale of the century at the Grand Palais in Paris this week has proved one thing at least. The rich, just like the poor, are always with us, even if they prefer not to reveal their names.
The three-day auction of 730 antiquities, paintings, sculptures, objets d'art and pieces of furniture which belonged to the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent smashed a dozen art market records in its first two days.
The world's most expensive armchair is now a sinister-looking "dragon chair", created by the 20th-century Irish designer Eileen Gray. It fetched 21.9 million ($61.1 million), the highest figure ever paid for a piece of 20th-century furniture.
The overall total of 59 million raised for Saint Laurent's furniture and furnishings was the highest figure achieved in a furniture sale.
The auction, which has attracted collectors, celebrities, dealers and wheeler-dealers from all over the world, has also set records for works of art by Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Marcel Duchamp, James Ensor, Piet Mondrian, Giorgio de Chirico, Theodore Gericault, Dominique Ingres and Jacques-Louis David.
The collection raised 373 million for Aids research and other charities.
Why such high bids, despite the worst economic climate for 70 years? Paris art market sources suggested that the crisis might actually have pushed up the bids.
"The super-wealthy are not sure where else they can safely put their money," one Parisian dealer said. "Beyond that, collections like this come on to the market very seldom. The Yves Saint Laurent name has also inflated the bidding for some of the minor items."
Another international dealer said the auction had been notable for the absence of buyers, or suspected buyers, from "nouveau riche" countries such as Russia or India. He said the money was coming from "long-standing collectors" in Europe and the United States "who know that you buy [art] in the teeth of a crisis".
Most of the running has been made by two young, French, New York-based dealers, Philippe Segalot and Franck Giraud, working on behalf of unnamed clients.
- INDEPENDENT
