Last 1st June the world of fashion came to a halt to commemorate the death of Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer considered one of the greatest fashion creators of the twentieth century who started his career at the Christian Dior maison to then found the homonymous label (Yves Saint Laurent) with his life and business partner Pierre Bergè.
His mark in the world of fashion and luxury remains recognizable and his name will always be symbol of style, becoming symbol of sophisticated but also innovative elegance. He was the first high fashion creator able to perceive the potential of commercial and industrial fashion sales through prêt-à-porter. At the same time his brand contributed to some revolutions in taste with the introduction of male clothing in female collections. But in his desire to create, he also recalled the world of art. Indeed, as a great lover of art, he also paid honours to the nineteenth-century masters, from Picasso to Andy Warhol, from Matisse to Braque, from Mondrian to David Hockney, when the art-fashion binomial still was not a foregone leit motiv.
“For Yves Saint Laurent art was a vital need, essential inspiring muse of his collections, necessary as water or air to survive. Art appeased his character which tended towards depression.” We can say that for the French stylist, art was a sort of placebo that helped him to take his mind off his incessant “grief.”
Alexis Krugel, fifth-generation heir of a dynasty of antique dealers of Russian origin, was one of the famous stylist’s favourite art merchants and many of the works that in February will be auctioned by Christie’s in Paris come from the gallery managed together with his brother Nicolas, giving life to be what has already been defined as “the sale of the century”, when hundreds of works owned by Yves Saint Laurent will be sold at auction.
Hundreds of priceless objects – we are talking about at least 500 million euros, collected with passion during almost forty years by Saint Laurent together with his life companion Pierre Bergè.
Goya, Fernand Leger, De Chirico, Picasso, Mondrian, Warhol, Matisse, are just some of the names in the list of treasures from the YSL collection, the eternal boy of high fashion who rarely opened his doors to photographers in his house-museum in Rue de Babylone. It is there, besides the apartment of Bergè in Rue Bonaparte, that the works collected with the same fever of discovery are kept.
In exclusive photos of the designer in his lounge published by art magazines, we can see “La composition au profil” by Fernand Leger, great vases in metal and lacquer by Jean Dunand, a De Chirico, rare Art Decò furniture, armchairs by Albert-Armand Rateau, Renaissance bronzes, enamels by Limoges that we also find in the residence of Bergè, with works by Buffet, a bas-relief by Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
This is the first news drawn from the few photos, because no information is filtering from Christie’s, which is organizing the sale with the auction house of Bergè himself. We are all waiting for a press conference in September when the auction date will be announced.
But other indiscretions from people who have been to the two mythical houses talk about a collection of enamels bought by Hubert de Givenchy, a big canvas by James Ensor, a picture by Gericault, a “Nature morte au tabouret” by Pablo Picasso.
Bergè has not explained yet why he has decided to disperse the collection, and give the profits to the Foundation created with the designer for the conservation of more than 5,000 dresses and 15,000 accessories and sketches that contain the history of the Maison born in 1962.
“I wanted to organize everything myself, until I am alive - he declared - and I could do this only after Yves’s death.” And he concluded: “The page has been turned.” (translated by Giorgina Arcuri)