Artcurial has been successfully paving the way for 20 years

"With 155 million euros in sales, this year we have achieved our best half-year since our creation," says Nicolas Orlowski, CEO of the Artcurial group.?

Over the past twenty years, the group has diversified significantly into the intermediation of exceptional goods.

The company, of which Dassault is the majority shareholder, can boast 15 records, including the one obtained for "Le Panier de fraises des bois" by Jean Siméon CHARDIN sold for 24.38 million euros, and 13 million-dollar auctions, including the 1996 Ferrari F50, sold for 4.2 million euros. No fewer than 36 lots were pre-empted or acquired by museums, and nearly 60 collections were dispersed, such as the estate of Dora Maar, which presented 750 unpublished photographs.

Refurbishment of the Dassault Hotel

Artcurial has refurbished the H?tel Dassault on the Champs-Elysées roundabout to give it the feel of a private flat, with a cutting-edge art bookshop aimed at professionals and collectors, an auction room equipped with the latest technology, and enlarged exhibition spaces to offer a year-round cultural programme. The restaurant, on the other hand, which is difficult to make profitable, should reopen as a simple café-tea room.

In two decades, Artcurial has built an original model that has led it to become the European leader in the intermediation of exceptional goods: the group brings together 620 employees in 25 countries and totals more than €1.5 billion in sales, albeit under different brands, unlike Sotheby's and Christie's.

Second-hand luxury

In addition to the auction house - "the only French success of this scale since the liberalisation of the market", according to its CEO - the group diversified into luxury real estate with the acquisition of John Taylor, which operates in 11 countries, and in racehorse auctions with Arqana,, one of the European leaders (160 million in sales) owned by Dassault alongside the Aga Khan. In mid-August, its yearling sales (foals aged 18 months) attract buyers from all over the world to Deauville.

In January 2019, thanks to its acquisition of a stake in the Monegasque company Seaminds , the group also launched into the sale and charter of yachts, both new and second-hand, as well as fleet management (crew, maintenance, etc.). Finally, in the Artcurial galaxy, Collector Square, whose shareholders are also Nicolas Orlowski and Dassault and which markets vintage luxury bags and watches at fixed prices, is a success (50 million turnover).

Dispersal of furniture from the George V

The pioneer, which has had talent stolen from it by two multinational art companies, such as the director of its Monaco office who was recently poached by Sotheby's, is back in summer from 15 to 21 July at the Hermitage in Monte-Carlo with the third edition of Monaco Sculptures, which brings together iconic artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the autumn, it will honour the furniture of the emblematic George V, after having already worked at the Ritz Carlton and the Plaza Athénée, and will disperse the collections of great Brazilian designers, the Chateau du Marais (18th century), the gallery owner Robert William Burke (close to Warhol, Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly), and, with Christie's, that of Didier LUDOT and Félix FARRINGTON, who have an eclectic taste: From Lalanne's rhinoceros to Line Vautrin's mirrors and drawings by Yves-Saint-Laurent.

Article written by Les Echos 07/2022