Recession? What recession?
The record-busting sale of the century at the Grand Palais in Paris this week has proved that the rich are unlike us. The three-day auction of 730 antiquities, paintings, sculptures, objets d'art and furniture which belonged to Yves Saint Laurent, smashed art-market records in its first two days. 33,000 people queued to view the collection last weekend. However, access to the auction room was strictly controlled. Potential buyers had to prove they had access to at least €500,000 in ready cash. You would need the cash: To buy the world's most expensive armchair, the oriental-looking "dragon chair", created by the Irish designer Eileen Gray. At €21.9m, it is the highest sum ever paid for a piece of 20th-century furniture.
What would you wear to sit on it?
By the end of the third day of bidding, the collection – sold by Pierre Bergé, 78, Saint Laurent's heir and former partner and business manager – was expected to raise up to €400m for Aids research among other charities.
Those at the auction have included Bianca Jagger and Lord Linley but most of the running was made by two young, French, New York-based dealers, Philippe Ségalot and Franck Giraud, working on behalf of unnamed clients. M. Giraud made two of the most astounding final bids on the first night: Almost €36m for the Matisse painting of 1911 The Cuckoos, a Blue and Pink Rug and €8.9m for a couple of perfume bottles, signed by the surrealist, Marcel Duchamp. Two bronze sculptures, looted from the Summer Imperial Palace when French and British forces sacked it during the Opium War of 1860, were snapped up despite repeated attempts by the Chinese government to ban their sale. The 18th century Qing dynasty bronzes are part of a collection of 12 inspired by the Chinese zodiac.
Phone bidders paid €14m each for the rat and rabbit heads.
The record-busting sale of the century at the Grand Palais in Paris this week has proved that the rich are unlike us. The three-day auction of 730 antiquities, paintings, sculptures, objets d'art and furniture which belonged to Yves Saint Laurent, smashed art-market records in its first two days. 33,000 people queued to view the collection last weekend. However, access to the auction room was strictly controlled. Potential buyers had to prove they had access to at least €500,000 in ready cash. You would need the cash: To buy the world's most expensive armchair, the oriental-looking "dragon chair", created by the Irish designer Eileen Gray. At €21.9m, it is the highest sum ever paid for a piece of 20th-century furniture.
What would you wear to sit on it?
By the end of the third day of bidding, the collection – sold by Pierre Bergé, 78, Saint Laurent's heir and former partner and business manager – was expected to raise up to €400m for Aids research among other charities.
Those at the auction have included Bianca Jagger and Lord Linley but most of the running was made by two young, French, New York-based dealers, Philippe Ségalot and Franck Giraud, working on behalf of unnamed clients. M. Giraud made two of the most astounding final bids on the first night: Almost €36m for the Matisse painting of 1911 The Cuckoos, a Blue and Pink Rug and €8.9m for a couple of perfume bottles, signed by the surrealist, Marcel Duchamp. Two bronze sculptures, looted from the Summer Imperial Palace when French and British forces sacked it during the Opium War of 1860, were snapped up despite repeated attempts by the Chinese government to ban their sale. The 18th century Qing dynasty bronzes are part of a collection of 12 inspired by the Chinese zodiac.
Phone bidders paid €14m each for the rat and rabbit heads.
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