“I buy paintings out of passion, never as an investment,” admits the 87-year-old legendary actor
A collection of works of art by French film legend Alain Delon will be auctioned, France Presse and Italian daily La Repubblica reported, citing information from auction house Bonham-Cornet de Saint-Cyr. The works in May and June will be shown in New York, Hong Kong, Geneva, London, and the auction itself under the title “Alain Delon: 60 years of passion” will take place on June 22 in Paris.
The collection contains 81 works and is estimated at 4-5 million euros. It includes paintings, sculptures and drawings from the era of the Italian Renaissance and the French XIX century. Among them are works by Paolo Cagliari, called Veronese, by Eugene Delacroix, Corot, Millet, Raoul Dufy… For example, Dufy’s oil painting La plage de Sainte-Adresse (The Beach of Sainte-Adresse, 1906) is estimated between 600,000 and 800 000 euros, Delacroix’s drawing Cheval arabe attaché à un piquet (“Arabian horse tied to a post”, 1825) – at 400,000-600,000 euros, and that of Veronese – San Giorgio e il drago (“St. George and the Dragon “) – between 40,000 and 60,000 euros, explains exhibition commissioner Arnaud Cornet de Saint-Cyr. According to him, Alain Delon is a great collector with an instinct for art.
The actor bought the first drawing in 1964 in London, when he was 24 years old. “Since then, over the years, I have acquired many picturesque canvases, sculptures, drawings that moved me, that spoke to me, and sometimes comforted me. These works have accompanied me for many years and are part of my life,” says the 87-year-old actor in the catalog for the collection. “I work a lot and all my money was spent on classical art. There are people who prefer to collect cars, I buy paintings. I buy out of passion, never for investment,” Alain Delon stated in 2007 in an interview with the French magazine Monde.
For more than 60 years, Alain Delon has been an avid and discerning art collector. “There are two things I consider my legacy: my acting career and my art collection. I’m very proud of both. People ask me if there is a common thread connecting the works I have bought. I answer them: this is me,” Delon says. Anoushka Delon – the daughter of model-turned-actor Rosalie van Bremen, said: “These wonderful works of art were a part of my childhood and now I’m so happy that the world will discover them. I know that they were my father’s faithful company and that they brought him endless joy.”
In 2016, the star of “Rocco and His Brothers,” “Borsalino,” “Death of a Scoundrel,” “Mr. Klein,” “The Assassination of Trotsky” and dozens of other notable films, sold his collections of crosses, wristwatches , weapons, as well as his collection of bronze sculptures by the Italian sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti, which enjoyed particular interest.
Photo: Alain Delon with his daughter Anushka / ERA
