Europe 1 with AFP 08:49, September 27, 2023

On the first day of the sale of Gérard Depardieu's art collection, it has already brought in 1.3 million euros. During the three days of public exposure, several thousand people followed one another in the three rooms of the Hotel Drouot, necessary to present all the lots that decorated the actor's Parisian mansion.

The auction of Gérard Depardieu's art collection, which is due to end Wednesday evening in Paris after bringing in 1.3 million euros on Tuesday, is "a great success in front of a full house of collectors and curious," said the auction house Ader. "To lighten up a little," according to the auctioneer, the 74-year-old actor has decided to disperse more than 250 works by great masters of the twentieth century, such as Calder or Rodin, artist he embodied in the cinema alongside Isabelle Adjani. The whole was estimated at more than 3 million euros.

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Several thousand visitors

Tuesday, on the first day of the sale, a bronze with black patina by Auguste Rodin, "Paolo and Francesca", printed in 12 copies, was sold for 83,200 euros (with fees), above the high estimate. A sculpture by Zadkine from 1922, "Kneeling Woman", found a buyer after fiery bidding at 104,960 euros including fees (high estimate at 80,000 euros). A gouache and ink by Alexander Calder, "Sun shine" (1974), fetched 92,160 euros with fees, smashing the estimate.

During the three days of public exposure, several thousand people followed one another in the three rooms of the Hotel Drouot, necessary to present all the lots that decorated the actor's Parisian mansion. "This collection is a great surprise by the importance of the works collected by Gérard Depardieu for more than forty years. He collected in a very fine way, often allowing to discover a facet of the character totally new, "said to AFP David Nordmann, auctioneer of the house Ader.

Gérard Depardieu has been under investigation since 2021 for suspicions of rape and sexual assault on actress Charlotte Arnould. The actor was sidelined in May for this reason from promoting the latest film in which he appears, "Umami", and several performances of his singing show around Barbara have been disrupted by feminists.