André Breton sale begins

A batch of paintings owned by Surrealist master Andre Breton has been sold at auction in Paris for 13.2m euros (£9m). Five record bids were recorded among the first lots at the start of a marathon 10-day sale. Breton's collection, originally valued at about 30m euros (£20.5m), includes paintings by Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro.

Breton's family opted to sell off his belongings after failing to convince the French government to take over his Paris flat. This has angered a group of intellectuals who have protested against the sale.

The French state has bought 17 lots at the sale for display in the country's national museums.

UPDATE: Here's the BBC's postsale summary:

Auction house CalmelsCohen had predicted its 10-day sale of 5,500 objects would bring in 30m euros (£20.7m). But the sale of paintings alone - including works by Magritte and Miro - totalled 26m euros (£18m). "It's the biggest sale we've had at Drouot for 20 years," an auction house spokeswoman said. . . the French state was one of the biggest buyers, spending 12m euros to buy works for 33 different museums. . .

Intellectuals protested against the auction, accusing collectors of picking over the bones of Breton, who died in 1966. Stink bombs were let off and fake euro notes handed out with the legend "your money stinks of the corpse of the poet that you never dared to become".

Posted by David on April 16, 2003 4:07 PM