Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé: the Mastodon of Private Collections
3 Comments Published by Cedric Benetti on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 2/23/2009 03:22:00 PM.
Are you an art freak? Do you absolutely LOVE art events of the century? Are you British enough to be fascinated by standing in line for hours? Then you might have been one of the tens of thousands of people standing their feet in the ground for half an eternity at the Grand Palais waiting line over the last few days in order to get a little peek at the private collection of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé which will be auctioned off later today.
I know what I'm talking about. I got a T-shirt saying "I stood in line for 4 hours to see the YSL collection". Not really but I wish they would have distributed at least some warm coffee by the time you reach your first 2 hours of waiting time, and when your only pastime is to get your eyes poked out by little old ladies umbrellas in the pouring rain.
But standing in line for so long is certainly worth it if you wanna see some wonderful pieces that haven't been on public display for half an eternity. Christie's is already calling it the "sale of the century" with over 700 lots with an estimated total value of €200 million to €300 million, or $255 million to $380 million. Some rumors backstage actually mention numbers around 500 million. But we'll have to wait until the last sales day to be sure.
The decision to sell almost the whole collection which Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé created and extended over the past 50 years, was made by Bergé as a way to find closure after the death of his love and life partner: "I wanted this sale," he said at a press conference. "This collection could only have two destinies: end up in a museum, which would have been too onerous, or on the auction block. I chose the sale because I felt the collection would not be truly complete until the hammer fell on the last lot."
This is where you go register for your bids on that little Picasso that you'd love to hang into your dressing room...
And this is where the 'no-photo' zone starts. The collection is displayed in a series of huge constructed rooms that recreate the interiors of their previous appartments. Apparently the auction house has spent more than a million Euros to put all of this splendor on display.
The collection in their original setting
The profits made of the sale will be divided between the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation created in 2002 to preserve the couturier's work, to which Saint-Laurent bequeathed his share of the collection, and a foundation that Bergé plans to create for the advancement of AIDS-related medical research. A noble way to let the memory of YSL survive not only in the wold of fashion.For more photos and actual authorized pictures of the interiors, go to the Christie's website and start one of their slide shows for more amazement.
Labels: Art, Art Galleries, exhibitions, Paris street stuff (NOT a TOILET)
Bonjour! Cedric,
Cedric said,"Are you an art freak?
Oh! yes,
Do you absolutely LOVE art events of the century?
Oh! yes,
Are you British enough to be fascinated by standing in line for hours? Oh! No, but I give the British a "nod" for perseverance.
Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé private collection is very beautiful and thank-you! for the link to Christie's website. I will be watching this auction "closely" to find out the "tally."
Merci! Beaucoup!
Cedric,
Dcd
The wait sounds dreadful, but the collection is amazing.
Honestly: if you were a guest in that apartment, would you have seen any *one* thing? There was just so much to look at, I can't imagine that anything stood out.
Must go poke someone with my umbrella...
Yes, I'm an art freak! That must have been something to see. Lucky you. I just saw a show here in San Francisco on YSL. AMAZING!! The show covered a large amount of years, so it was a very good over view of his work.