"Classy"! In a snap, Gainsbourg-Gainsbarre would no doubt have failed to comment on and appreciate the event. In Drouot (Paris IXth), this late Friday afternoon, one of the singer's extremely rare canvases was sold for 105,000 euros (around 134,000 euros including costs). That is more than twice its highest estimate, 50,000 euros, and more than three times the lowest, 30,000 euros. Better still: in the small auction game, the author of "La Javanaise" preceded Foujita (1886-1968), the great painter of Japanese origin: one of his drawings, another fine lot in the sale, only left. 'to 72,000 euros ...
In Drouot, in two rooms requisitioned for three days, the crowd of great days had met from 1 p.m.
In the midst of the singer's many personal items, dresses on coat racks, umbrellas hung on the wall, dishes and jewelry in the windows, buyers of course, but also Juliette Gréco's granddaughter and beneficiary, Julie-Amour Rossini, and above all many curious and in love with the artist.
Like Gabrielle, a 69-year-old Parisian.
" I loved him so much.
I have always listened to his songs.
It's moving to find yourself in the middle of your business like that.
And it's true that I'm also a little curious to see the prices… ”, she admits under the mask.
Offered to Gréco in 1959
In the case of the painting signed "Ginsbourg", if everyone expected the price to take off, it was quite difficult to make a prognosis.
And for good reason: this is the first time that a work by the painter Gainsbourg has been sold in Drouot.
The singer made this small oil on canvas (33 x 45.5 cm), representing him and his sister, children sitting on the ground in the sand of a square alley, in the 1950s.
At that time, Lucien Ginsburg had only one dream: to become a great painter.
He will devote himself to it for 15 years before, convinced that he has no "genius", to destroy all his work.
Or almost… In 1959, he gave Juliette Gréco, whom he had just met, a “surviving” painting.
Today, according to estimates, only three or five of the author of the "Punchman of Lilacs" remain.
The buyer is "passionate about the singer"
“We are of course very happy, commented this Friday evening Thomas Müller, one of the two auctioneers.
We cherished this dream of reaching 100,000 euros, which is a nice sum for a painting.
"
The bidder, who placed his orders by phone, was not officially known this Friday evening.
"I can just tell you that it is about a passionate singer who came to see the painting during the exhibition", slips the man with the hammer.
The price of "Children in the Square" is not his only reason for satisfaction: overall, the sale, which continues this Saturday, brought in three times more than expected and its final result could exceed one million euros.
Juliette Gréco sale
until this Saturday, from 1:30 p.m., in Drouot (Paris, IXe).
https://www.crait-muller.com/