Basel auction house Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer is holding a huge sale of 375 lots after Art Basel, testing the market for the first time since it was acquired by French auction house Artcurial earlier this year. “This is our first official auction together,” said an Artcurial spokesperson.
The sale, which includes works by Howard Hodgkin (Egypt, 1993-96; is SFr500,000-SFr700,000) and Henri Matisse (Vase of flowers, 1945; is SFr40,000-SFr60,000), is due to take place on June 21. A selection of works from the Estate of Florence and Antoine Poncet, including several works by the 19th century French painter Maurice Denis (The First Head or The Violet Room, 1906; is SFr150,000-SFr200,000), will also go under the hammer.
Artcurial acquired an undisclosed stake in Beurret Bailly Widmer, which was founded in 2011 by Nicolas Beurret and Emmanuel Bailley, together with Markus Schöb, from Galerie Widmer, who later joined the company in 2018. Specializing in modern art and contemporary, the Swiss auction house has locations in Basel, Zürich and St. Gallen.
“It’s a very busy week for the art world, but collectors can come to the fair [to see works]says Beurret, adding that partnering with Artcurial means “we can grow globally; Chinese and American collectors bid for our works. At the regional level, he also wishes to open an office in French-speaking Switzerland.
In the catalog of the auction, Nicolas Orlowski, the managing director of Artcurial, writes that the three founders “will pursue this [new] adventure with Artcurial to develop the position of Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer in this part of Europe”. In the meantime, “several development projects” are planned for the next two years.
Artcurial has sales offices in Paris, Monaco and Marrakech, and also owns John Taylor, which specializes in luxury real estate, and Arqana, which specializes in the sale of horses.
