Sometimes slips of the tongue can be Freudian errors: When Cécile Verdier, the French head of the Christie’s auction house, opened the auction in Paris last week with works from the corporate collection of the car manufacturer Renault, the words “nous sommes honorés” slipped into “onéreux”. The introductory affirmation “We feel honored” echoed: “We feel expensive.” With regard to the 33 lots that came to the auction, the lapse expressed what was unspoken in the room: unease about the dispersal of emblematic works of art that are too belonged to a historically unique collection ensemble. In the previous weeks, a heated controversy had broken out in French newspapers and the country’s art world about the meaning and moral legitimacy of the auction, which ultimately grossed ten million euros, far more than expected. The Renault collection cannot be compared with other company collections, which are primarily prestigious investments. It dates back to the late 1960s, when an art-loving department head at Renault, Claude Renard, discovered the idea of artwork in the workplace in the United States and brought it to France. At the Renault factory on the Seine island of Seguin in Paris, he developed – supported by the then company boss Pierre Dreyfus – a concept that was intended to combine art inspiration and industrial innovation. “Research, art and industry” For its implementation, he founded a department for “research, Art and Industry”, which, with an appropriate budget, brought contemporary avant-garde artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Victor Vasarely, Jean Dewasne, Julio Le Parc and Jesús-Rafael Soto into the company. They exchanged ideas with the employees on site, whether workers or engineers. Works were commissioned, sometimes on a monumental scale such as for the entrance hall or cafeteria of the company headquarters. Vasarely created the diamond logo of the then state-owned company, which embodied the idea of a socially oriented French industrial culture like no other in France. Body parts into works of art: Armand in 1969 with a work he created in cooperation with Renault, in which his wife Corice Canton is seated in the picture.Picture Alliance Renault ordered the furnishing of a relaxation area from Dubuffet, which the artist decorated with his red-blue-white hourloupe Sculptures in the form of chairs, benches and trees. Machines or materials could also be used. The artist Arman, known for his “accumulations”, produced more than a hundred works for Renault from 1967 onwards, using body and engine parts. More than twenty of his works were included in the collection, which was also expanded by purchases, for example of paintings by American artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Sam Francis. Now scattered to the four winds: Objects from the RenaultChristie’s collectionIn 1986, times had changed. The speculation-free, creative, dialogue-friendly experiment in industrial patronage was discontinued, with some of the works that had been created through collaboration with artists being returned to them. Over the following decades, Renault preserved around 350 works by 35 artists and a collection of two hundred photographs. Due to the lack of a permanent exhibition facility and sufficient financial resources, it led a shadowy existence. Contradiction without effect Until now: The controversy surrounding the auction at Christie’s has brought Renault’s former commitment to art and the quality of the associated works back into public consciousness. Five works by Dubuffet alone, paintings by Vasarely, Rauschenberg and Sam Francis, and sculptures by Joan Miró, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely went under the hammer. Delphine Renard, the daughter of the collection’s founder, had tried to prevent the dispersal and alerted the press. In a communiqué, she explained that selling part of the collection contradicted its spirit. The artists were assured that their works would remain in the collection: “Under no circumstances were these works allowed to become the subject of financial or commercial transactions.” The former Minister of Culture Jack Lang also campaigned for the preservation of the collection in its entirety and wrote to his successor Rachida Dati. Since 2021, however, Dati has been charged with “passive corruption” in connection with remuneration she received from Renault. The minister did not react. Legally flawlessBoth Renault and Christie’s had the legal situation checked before the auction. There was nothing legally against her. Paul Nyzam, the auction house’s expert in charge, told the daily newspaper “Le Figaro” that all artists or their legal successors had been contacted in advance about works up for auction, and none of them had spoken out against a sale. But being entitled does not necessarily mean that to be right. Several documents cited by Delphine Renard prove that a moral contract existed with the artists. The works created for Renault and in the collection were considered “inalienable”. The family of Simon Hantaï referred to a corresponding letter from the artist and refused to approve the auction of one of his works. As the new head of the now founded Fondation Renault, Catherine Gros, told “Figaro”, the auction proceeds would go into the foundation fund, which guarantees the continuation of the collection. A focus should be placed on street art as contemporary avant-garde art. Whether that will be enough to revive the spirit of the amputated collection remains to be seen. According to Stéphane Corréard, art dealer and consultant for Renault, also interviewed by “Figaro”, the collection can now finally be restored and shown publicly through partnerships with museums and foundations. More on the topic The latter would have been possible earlier. “It would have been enough to turn to any museum to save this fantastic collection,” complained François Barré, former president of the Center Pompidou, in the Journal des Arts. The works auctioned for 10.6 million euros from a collection that symbolized an era in art history and even the history of ideas are now scattered to the four winds. The Renault Group’s net profit was 2.2 billion euros last year. The purchase of street art might have fit into the budget even without the auction – and could even have been tax deductible.
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