Second Saint Laurent art sale soon

Christie's will soon begin the second auction round of Yves' art collection.

Paris: A second auction of art works once belonging to Yves Saint Laurent will be held in November after the main part of the late designer`s huge collection was sold earlier this year, auctioneers Christie`s said on Monday. As well as modern art and Old Master pictures and drawings by artists including Picasso, Fernand Leger and Miro, the sale in Paris will include furniture and various Art Deco objects that decorated the sumptuous rooms of Saint Laurent`s chateau.

The first sale of treasures belonging to Saint Laurent and his companion and business partner, Pierre Berge, raised more than 370 million euros ($525 million) in February in the biggest private auction seen in Paris in many years. The second sale, to be held on November 17-19, will include almost 1,200 works housed in Chateau Gabriel, a 19th-century Normandy country house bought by the couple in the 1980s, as well as their two Paris residences. As in the first sale, which included masterpieces by artists ranging from Picasso and Matisse to ancient Roman sculptures, 17th-century German silverware and art deco furniture, proceeds will be donated to AIDS research. Berge and Saint Laurent built up one of the world`s biggest and most important private art collections over some five decades but Berge decided to sell it all after Saint Laurent died last year. Christie`s said that after the auction of the main pieces of the collection in February, the second would present objects "of a more understated charm." The two men decorated their country residence in a style inspired by the rarified atmosphere of Marcel Proust`s novel cycle "A la recherche du temps perdu" ("In Search of Lost Time"), a great favorite of the late designer. Among the items on sale is a large Ming Dynasty basin. The first auction was hit by a dispute over two bronze sculptures looted from China in the 19th century. China said the two Qing dynasty bronzes, seized from Beijing in 1860 during the Opium Wars, should be handed back because they had been taken illegally. Berge rejected the claim but said he would give them back if China guaranteed human rights and allowed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama to return home. Bureau Report