PARIS AND MADRID — Beneath the cupola of a Parisian palace in the shadow of a worldwide economic crisis, the world's top art buyers gathered Monday for a historic auction: the sale of 733 pieces of art owned by the late designer Yves Saint Laurent, valued at as much as $380 million.
An Henri Matisse painting of a vase, titled "The Couscous, Blue Carpet and Rose," went for $40.6 million, the highest amount paid for any of the French artist's works. And overall, the total sales of $261 million for the day topped the previous record for a private collection, according to a spokeswoman for Christie's auction house, the organizer of the three-day auction.
But there was at least one sign of restraint. Nobody opened their wallet for a Pablo Picasso painting from his Cubist period, "Musical Instruments on a Table," considered the most valuable piece in the collection, with an estimate of $38 million.
More than 1,500 high-powered collectors packed into the Grand Palais, a glass-and-steel exhibition hall built in 1900, for the opening session. They were drawn by the extraordinary quality and quantity of the collection amassed by the French fashion icon and his partner, Pierre Berge. Saint Laurent died last year at 71.
"Giant!" declared art critic Beatrice de Rochebouet of Le Figaro newspaper on the eve of the auction. "The word is not too weak in the mouths of those who have witnessed the preparations for the sale of the century."
Nonetheless, a mood of uncertainty prevailed over the festivities because of the international economic meltdown that has inflicted heavy damage on the art market.
As Christie's prepared for the huge event, the firm announced layoffs of 300 employees. Elsewhere, galleries have closed and masterpieces have gone unsold. The auction this week is seen by experts as a key test of whether the wealthy will embrace or shrink from prodigious purchases.
With media heat building in recent days, Christie's sold out all 6,000 copies of the auction catalog. At the small Le Bourget airport north of Paris, authorities attributed a 35% increase in traffic by private jets over the weekend to dealers arriving for the bidding.
"This happens once every 100 years," said Misako Takaku, a Japanese collector of proto-Impressionist Edouard Manet, to Agence France-Presse. "It's like a dream."
