The art market in France usually comes to a standstill in August when galleries and auction houses take their summer break. The Olympic Games, which paralyzed the center of Paris during the preparation phase, even brought about an early end to the season this time. The image of Paris as a European art and culture metropolis could improve once again thanks to the images of the opening ceremony and the venues in the heart of the city that are going around the world – and prestige benefits the art trade in particular. In March, the French association of auction houses published its balance sheet from 2023. The number of foreign buyers has been increasing for a long time – last year by a further three percent. With total sales of 2.3 billion euros and a 7 percent global market share in the art and collectibles sector, France ranks fourth globally. However, compared to the extraordinarily dynamic year of 2022, the French auction market recorded a decline of almost 9 percent. Christie’s had the best offer. The figures for the first six months of 2024 also confirm that the time of record values is over. Christie’s had the highest quality offer and is moving forward with sales of 203 million euros in France ahead of Sotheby’s, the market leader in 2023: a success for Cécile Verdier, who has been running the French branch for five years. In June, Jean Siméon Chardin’s still life “The Cut Melon”, estimated at 8 to 12 million euros, sold for 23 million euros at the home of François Pinault. It is the top lot of the half-year in France. Another highlight in March was the auction of works from the Barbier-Mueller collection of African and oceanic art, which brought in a total of 73 million euros. The record value for the division made it the most expensive auctioned collection of the half-year. The auction of 33 works from the Renault collection was also successful for 10.5 million euros – despite an initial controversy. All lots were sold, often well above their estimated prices. The highest price in the well-stocked spring auction of impressionist and classical modern art at Christie’s went to a Fauvist painting by André Derain. It depicts the painters Henri Matisse and Étienne Terrus sitting at a café table in 1905 and, estimated at 2 to 3 million euros, changed hands for 2.6 million euros. A loss of 14 percent at Sotheby’sSotheby’s must have sales of 133 million euros in France, a decrease of 14 percent compared to the previous year. In October, Patrick Drahi’s auction company in Paris will expand and move into a building complex on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Avenue Matignon. Sotheby’s is thus moving spatially closer to its competitor Christie’s, but at the same time is throwing down the gauntlet with its buyer’s premium percentages, which have been significantly reduced since May. Sotheby’s made high profits in the luxury goods departments such as jewelry, watches and handbags. The arts, on the other hand, lacked top works and outstanding collections. The highest-quality lots of the six-month period were sold in the auction for modern and contemporary art in April. “La fillette en robe bleue au col rouge” by Chaïm Soutine rose to 1.15 million euros (estimate 800,000/1.2 million euros). A spring-fresh abstraction on a white field by Robert Ryman fell short of expectations (1.2/1.8 million) at 1.1 million euros, even though it was one of the early works that rarely comes onto the market. In the design auction in June, a group of three sheep by François-Xavier Lalanne surpassed the top estimate of 700,000 euros when the hammer fell at 1.05 million. An unusual “lotus vase” by Alberto Giacometti was valued at 850,000 above the estimate of 300,000 to 400,000 euros. With sales in Switzerland, Belgium and Monaco, Artcurial also had a problem with top-class works of art. In the first half of the year, sales amounted to 121 million euros, ten percent less than in the same period last year, with the new branch in Basel now being included in the balance sheet. In a rare auction with archaeological objects and art from the Orient, an exciting bidding war developed over the bust of an Egyptian governor of the 26th Dynasty (around 600 BC). The estimate for the greywacke statuette fragment was 25,000 to 35,000 euros; the hammer was only sold at 520,000 euros. In April, all 164 works from the estate of the artist couple Marie and Félix Bracquemond, contemporaries of the Impressionists, were auctioned at Artcurial for more than two million euros and post-impressionists. Among the preliminary studies, works on paper and a collection of ceramics, a pastel portrait of the young Édouard Manet by Félix Bracquemond attracted the most attention. Estimated at 40,000 to 60,000 euros, it grossed 280,000 euros net. Bonhams Cornette de Saint-Cyr includes the sales of its branches in Belgium and Monaco in the half-year result of 74 million euros. Sales figures fell by 16 percent. The auction house was successful with the Jules Speelman collection of Asian art. In June it generated more than 15 million euros in sales from 28 lots. A Nepalese statuette of Buddha Vajradhara from the 14th century climbed to 3.4 million euros with an expectation of 600,000 to 800,000 euros. In June, three million euros were approved for an extraordinary group of figures “Three Running Panthers” by Rembrandt Bugatti, less than the estimated price of 3.5 to 5.5 million. Fire at large with Napoleon The Drouot recorded gains: sales rose by 4.4 Percent. Auctioneer Joron Derem had the most expensive lot on offer. A painting by Kazuo Shiraga that shines in red tones was sold above the top price at 900,000 euros (600,000/800,000). A drawing in brown ink by the Baroque painter Jean Cousin the Younger was particularly sought after at the Ader auction house. It shows a love scene between “Jupiter and Semele” and, with an estimate of 30,000 to 40,000, achieved the price of 500,000 euros. More on the topic There were surprises outside of Paris too. At Metayer-Mermoz in Antibes, a large abstract landscape by the Indian painter Sayed Haider Raza – “Paysage Agreste” from 1961 – attracted the highest bid of 3.7 million euros (400,000/600,000). In July, the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau auctioned off two pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte carried with him in the dramatic final hours of his abdication. The hammer fell at 1.3 million euros (1.2/1.5 million euros).
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