Everything must go. From their giant collection, Pierre Bergé wishes only to guard one item. The rest can be yours if you win the auction…


The list of names sounds like a prestige museum: 691 lots with works by Degas, Gaugin, Le Douanier Rousseau, Manet, Cezanne, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Klimt, Vuillard, Mondrian, Munch, Braque, Matisse, Picasso, Leger, Brancusi, Giacometti, Duchamp, De Chirico, Klee, Dufy, Ingres… a huge collection built up over fifty year, forty of which they spent together.



Not mad about painting? Hundreds of other itmes are on offer: tobacco boxes, silver mugs, statuettes, vases, furniture, carpets, archeological items… the variety is staggering.

With €400, you might be able to leave with a crystal-handled dagger. Other piece however are of almost inestimable value, such as chinese animal heads in bronze, dating from the Qing dynasty.

And you can’t or don’t want to buy anything, the lots will all be exposed for public viewing at the Grand Palais before the auction starts. This is your last chance to see the pieces before they are sold to the very very rich (or perhaps some museums?). Proceeds from the sale (the collection is estimated at between 200 and 300 million euros, but expected to reach much more) will go to the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation which finances medical research into AIDS.

Here’s all the essential information for the sale and viewing of the Collection of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé at the Grand Palais

When: 21st – 25th February 2009
Where: Grand Palais, 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris, métro Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau (lines 1 & 13). Bus n°s 28, 32, 42, 49, 72, 73, 80, 83 & 93
Opening hours: viewing on 21st & 22nd February from 9am – midnight, 23rd February from 9am – 1pm. Auction on 23rd, 24th & 25th February
Admission: free
Official auction site : here

Bigger map here