David Nordmann reveals Tuesday on France Bleu Berry behind the scenes of the sale in Paris of 250 works that belonged to Gérard Depardieu, including bronzes by Auguste Rodin, Germaine Richier and series by Henri Michaux and Eugène Leroy.
The collection of works of art by Gérard Depardieu put up for auction on Tuesday September 26 and Wednesday September 27 at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris is “a collection of very, very rare quality“, made of “favorites and passions”, describes David Nordmann, auctioneer of the sale at the Hôtel Drouot. He was the guest on Tuesday of France Bleu Berry, where the actor Gérard Depardieu comes from.
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250 works are on sale for two days starting Tuesday at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, organized by the Ader house. “It’s a relatively eclectic collection since we go from bronzes by Rodin to an immense bronze by Germaine Richier, introduces the auctioneer. We have a certain number of series by artists such as a series by Henri Michaux or Eugène Leroy. And then we have a whole post-war art section, Gérard Depardieu really liked everything Poliakoff. And then we have particular affinities in contemporary art, like for example this artist with Down syndrome, Maryam, whom he met while traveling in Azerbaijan.”
Several weeks at Rodin
Gérard Depardieu began collecting works while playing the role of Rodin in the film Camille Claudel, in the 1980s. “He spent several weeks with Rodin, in his workshop in Meudon, but also at the museum, rue de Varenne [à Paris], says David Nordmann. He spent days and days rubbing shoulders with sculptures, sleeping in Rodin’s bed, and thus he became imbued with a passion for art. It was the great start of a great adventure which lasted almost thirty years.”
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These works are “favorites, passions, he is interested in an artist and he wants to know everything about him, he devours everything about the artist, he knows him perfectly well. Besides, he talks about him very, very well, admires the auctioneer. It’s really a collection that is his own, that resembles him, and each of the works that he chooses is really well mastered from start to finish and it’s a collection that is very, very rare. quality”.
Between 3 to 5 million euros
Prices should range from a few hundred euros to several hundred thousand euros. Gérard Depardieu has “really insisted” on “the idea that people can both buy an important work of art, but also a small piece of what Gérard Depardieu’s collection was, so that there are really all the prices and all the scholarships, even the most modest, can return with a piece of the Depardieu collection”says David Nordmann.
Highlight of the sale, lot number 43, “The Walking Man”, a bronze silhouette sculpted by Germaine Richier. It is also one of the most imposing pieces in the collection. The work is priced at 500,000 euros, it is estimated at around 800,000 euros, but it could go for more than a million euros, estimates France Inter. With 250 works, the auction total should rise to “3 to 5 million euros”calculates the auctioneer.