Beneath the cupola of a Parisian palace in the shadow of a worldwide economic crisis, the world's top art buyers gathered on Monday for a historic auction: the sale of 733 pieces of art owned by the late designer Yves Saint Laurent who died last year at 71, valued at as much as $380 million.
The proceedings took place under chandeliers and the glass roof of the palace off the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. About 1,500 elegant chairs were set up for buyers who had reserved them long in advance. Still, several hundred people who could not find seats stood off to the side.
An Henri Matisse painting of a vase, titled "The Couscous, Blue Carpet and Rose," was sold for $40.6 million, the highest amount paid for any of the French artist's works. And overall, the total sales of $261 million for the day topped the previous record for a private collection, according to a spokeswoman for Christie's auction house, the organizer of the three-day auction.
As surprisingly as it may seem nobody was willing to open their wallet for a Pablo Picasso painting from his Cubist period, "Musical Instruments on a Table," considered the most valuable piece in the collection, with an estimate of $38 million.
More than 1,500 high-powered collectors packed into the Grand Palais, a glass-and-steel exhibition hall built in 1900, for the opening session. They were drawn by the extraordinary quality and quantity of the collection amassed by the French fashion icon and his partner, Pierre Berge.
Nonetheless, a mood of uncertainty prevailed over the festivities because of the international economic meltdown that has inflicted heavy damage on the art market.
As Christie's prepared for the huge event, the firm announced layoffs of 300 employees. Elsewhere, galleries have closed and masterpieces have gone unsold. The auction this week is seen by experts as a key test of whether the wealthy will embrace or stand aside from prodigious purchases.
With media heat building in recent days, Christie's sold out all 6,000 copies of the auction catalog. At the small Le Bourget airport north of Paris, authorities attributed a 35% increase in traffic by private jets over the weekend to dealers arriving for the bidding.
Before the arrival of the limousine crowd, Parisians endured long lines in a cold drizzle on Monday morning for a public exhibit of the works.
Berge, the fashion designer's partner in business and personal life, predicted recently that the sale would reaffirm the value of art as an investment refuge. He also added that he plans to donate most of the profits to HIV/AIDS research. He has told journalists that a sale will best honor the compulsive energy of Saint Laurent, who filled his sumptuous apartment on the Left Bank with eclectic treasures. Berge quoted the writer Edmond de Goncourt's sentiment that he did not want art ending up in "the cold tomb of a museum."