The Yves Saint Laurent Pierre Berge Collection: The Sale of the Century

Description

An authoritative book published in collaboration with Christie's, featuring photographs of the Berge-Saint Laurent collection in situ, complete with estimated value information and final auction prices. In February 2009, 733 pieces from Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent's art collection-one of the largest private collections in the world-was auctioned off in a record-breaking sale of the century. Modern paintings, baroque bronzes, antique silverware and statues, cameos, and minerals comprise this diverse collection that furnished Berge's and Saint Laurent's two luxurious residences in the 6th arrondissement in Paris, and included major works by Picasso, Brancusi, Matisse, and Mondrian, in addition to furniture by the Art Deco masters Eileen Gray and Jean Dunand. Many works sold for prices far above the highest estimates, making this the most important European auction to date. The five-volume catalog published by Christie's for the event sold out before the end of the auction, leaving collectors and art connoisseurs the world over empty-handed. Flammarion presents a new volume featuring photographs of this fabulous collection in situ in Berge's and Saint Laurent's two Parisian residences and highlights one hundred of the most important pieces with detailed commentaries by Christie's experts. An introduction by Christie's vice president Francois de Ricqles revisits the intense three-day auction at the Grand Palais that set a new standard in the history of the art market. An illustrated appendix includes images of the works sold, accompanied by their estimated values and final auction prices. This visually stunning and informative volume is a must-have for art lovers and serious collectors. Publication coincides with the auction of the Berge-Saint Laurent collection at Chateau Gabriel in October 2009.

Francois de Ricqles is vice president of Christie's France and was director of this sale in collaboration with Pierre Berge Associates. Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery is an art director at Christie's France and is the author of French Interiors: The Art of Elegance, and other fine design books.

"This volume features lush pictures of the collection as it appeared in the home, highlighting 100 of the most important pieces. If these pages whet your appetite for more, the publication of this volume coincides with a second Saint Laurent-Berge auction, this time of the Chateau Gabriel collection, scheduled for November." ~MetroSource.com