Extraordinary Art Stories at the Hôtel Drouot. From Vermeer to Louise Bourgeois.

We often forget that in the 19th century and up until the Second World War, Paris was the global epicenter of artistic life. The beating heart of the art trade was located at the Hôtel Drouot and its various annexes, an Aladdin's cave of ancient and modern creation. and a place of unusual social mixing. Contemporary paintings were sold there, including those by Degas, Picasso, and Picabia. Old masters were rescued from oblivion, as was the case with Vermeer. In a turbulent mix, one encountered not only visionaries of art, but also marriageable girls, demi-mondaines, and small dealers. Price quotations were shamelessly manipulated, thus shaping the destiny of masters who today belong to posterity.

Through ten extraordinary stories, Judith Benhamou unveils little-known aspects of art and the art market. Many great figures have passed through Drouot: from Antoine van Dyck to Louise Bourgeois, from Eugène Delacroix to Vincent van Gogh, from Paul Éluard to Marcel Duchamp, this book offers a no-holds-barred journey to the land of little stories in the great history of art, illustrated with masterpieces that were once offered at auction in the auction house's red rooms.