The highlight of the sale, “La baie de Sainte-Adresse”, a painting by Raoul Dufy estimated between 600,000 and 800,000 euros, was sold for 1,016,400 euros.
The 80 works of art making up the collection of cinema legend Alain Delon were sold at auction on Thursday in Paris for more than eight million euros with fees, twice the estimate, the house of Paris announced to AFP. sale Bonhams-Cornette de Saint Cyr. Prior to this sale, they had been exhibited since April in New York, Geneva, Brussels and Hong Kong.
A rare Delacroix
In front of two packed houses bringing together international buyers, curious people and admirers of the actor, all the lots experienced fierce competition. The highlight of the sale, The bay of Sainte-Adresse, a painting by Raoul Dufy estimated between 600,000 and 800,000 euros, was sold for 1,016,400 euros. A work by Eugène Delacroix, which had not reappeared on the market for more than 40 years, soared to 775,100 euros, more than double the low estimate.
“It’s no wonder (that these works) sparked such heated bidding. A huge collector with an instinctive eye, the actor was notably one of the biggest buyers of drawings from the 60s and 70s, when they were not in vogue“, underlined Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr, auctioneer. The actor had thus brought together a set deemed exceptional. Estimated at 50,000 euros, a 16th century work by Domenico Beccafumi (1486-1551), Saint standing holding a crosssoared to more than 241,000 euros.
A “part of my life”
The Norman milkmaid, drawing by Jean-François Millet, grand master of the 19th century, found a buyer at 216,300 euros (estimate 100,000 euros). “I bought my first drawing in 1964, in London. Over the years, I have acquired works that have moved me, spoken to me and sometimes even consoled me. They have been part of my life…“, said Alain Delon, 87, in the catalog, without attending the sale. In 2007, Alain Delon had dispersed modern works, explaining to the newspaper Le Monde “that he hated posthumous sales“.
In 2016, after selling his grands crus, his watches and his collectible weapons, Alain Delon also auctioned a first series of Bugatti bronzes with the same success.