Artcurial Celebrates 20th Anniversary with a Record Year

2022 has ended after 132 sales marked by very important results and totalling €216,5M. Artcurial thus achieved its best year in 20 years (up 28% over 2021).

Some key figures:

• 39 auction records, including the one for Le panier de fraises des bois by Jean-Siméon Chardin sold for €24,381,400.

• 17 lots sold above €1M, including the 1968 Porsche 907 Usine, sold for €4,390,400.

• 42 lots preempted or acquired by museum institutions, including the Portrait of Catherine Duchemin, 17^th century French school, acquired for €301,760 by the Etablissement public du château, du musée et du domaine national de Versailles.

• 118 private collections were dispersed, including the one of Robert William Burke, featuring nearly 300 works spanning several centuries of art history, including Andy Warhol's Warren which was sold for €459,200.

10 remarkable auctions marked this year 2022
In March, the Old Master & 19^th Century Art department marked the half-year with the sale of Jean-Siméon Chardin’s masterpiece, Le panier de fraises des bois, which fetched €24,381,400, becoming the world record for a work by the artist and the world record for an Old French painting sold at auction. The department continued to build on its prestige sales in November, notably with the sale of Abel Grimmer's tondiTen Months of the Year, which fetched €1,538,400, also a world record for a work by the artist sold at auction.

Later, Modern & Contemporary Art stood out with the sale of Pierre Soulages’ exceptional 1959 painting Peinture 92 × 73 cm from the Schwartz-Sterngold collection, which was sold for €2,718,100, and more recently with Alfred Sisley's Printemps au bord du Loing, sold for €1,228,400 during the department's prestige sale in December.

The Furniture & Works of Art department was highlighted with the sale of a Louis XV Bureau “Dos d’Âne”, stamped by Bernard Van Risen-Burgh, called BVRB II, which fetched €721,600. Similarly, the Art Deco / Design department confirmed its recent successes with the sale of a Jean Royère set for €1,679,360, including a magnificent “Boule” model sofa called “Ours Polaire” created in 1947, a “Flaque” coffee table and an “Éléphanteau” armchair, a high version from 1939.

The year was also marked by a world record with the sale of the 1968 Porsche 907 Usine sold for €4,390,400.
The luxury sector also produced some very fine results with the sale of a 17.5 carat emerald-cut diamond and gold ring for €1,274,400, an Audemars Piguet watch, code 11.59 model, for €708,500 and the sale of an assortment of bottles from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti for €42,842.

Finally, the world premiere constituted by the auction of 10 buildings and emblematic places of Cannes in the form of NFT also stood out. Under the hammer of Maître Arnaud Oliveux, the event sale totalled nearly €320,000, with 100% of the lots sold.