Sotheby's serves dinner under US$150 million of art in Paris
Dinner in Paris this October comes with US$150 million on the walls.
Sotheby's, the auction house, is opening Chez Sotheby's during Art Basel Paris, the international art fair in the French capital. The space works as a restaurant and cocktail bar hung with art to that value, according to ARTnews.
It runs from 19 to 24 October. That puts it squarely inside the fair week, when collectors, dealers and curators crowd into the city.
The project is presented by Sotheby's with _POLIMENO, according to Sotheby's. The listing describes it as a living environment where art and conversation unfold together. In plain terms, people eat and drink around the work rather than file past it in a gallery.
The hang spans Modern, Post-War and Contemporary art. That is shorthand for work from the early 20th century through to the present day.
Names confirmed for the display include Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol. The Sotheby's listing also names Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon among the artists shown.
Food and drink sit at the centre of the plan, not off to the side. The site pairs the display with a full restaurant and a cocktail bar operating alongside the art.
What makes this stand out is the setting. Auction displays are usually built for quick looking and quiet bidding. Here the idea is slower. Stay for a course. Talk. The pictures stay with you.
