Sale of Degas, Derain, Cézanne, Gaugin, Picasso and Renoir works hidden since 1939 then argued over for a generation
A treasure trove of paintings, prints, books and drawings by some of the 20th century's greatest artists is to be sold after being stored largely unseen for 70 years.
The works by artists such as Picasso, Derain, Cézanne, Gauguin and Renoir are being collected as the "Tresors du Coffre Vollard". They represent a remarkable story that includes some of the most important figures in modern art and some of the past century's momentous historical events.
The 140 works were deposited in a Paris bank safety deposit box in 1939 and remained there for 40 years. They are to be offered for sale by Sotheby's in Paris and London, the auction house announced.
Helena Newman, a vice-chairman of Sotheby's impressionist and modern art department, said the sale was exciting and like looking into a "lost world". She first set eyes on the works a few weeks ago. "It was amazing – extraordinary really. It was like a glimpse back in time because there were works here that have not been seen since 1939. Most of the works on paper were unframed, and then there were prints by Renoir and Picasso."
The collection was once owned by Ambroise Vollard, one of the most important art dealers of the last century who championed artists from Cézanne to Picasso to Van Gogh.
Vollard was killed in a car crash in 1939 at the age of 73. About 600 works were then in the hands of a protégé of Vollard, a young Yugoslav Jew called Erich Slomovic. As the Nazis approached, Slomovic put 140 works in a bank vault at the Société Générale in Paris and took more than 400 others to his family home in Yugoslavia.
In 1942, Slomovic, along with his father and brother, was murdered at Sajmište concentration camp.
The Nazis never got their hands on either stash of artwork. The Yugoslav hoard eventually went to the National Museum in Belgrade.
The Paris stash remained untouched. Under French law, the vault remained undisturbed for 40 years until the bank could legally open it and sell the contents to recoup unpaid storage fees.
A court challenge prevented a planned sale in 1981, and there followed years of legal wrangling which involved lawyers representing heirs of Vollard and heirs of Slomovic. It was a protracted affair and has only been settled recently. Yesterday, Sotheby's said it was to finally sell the works by agreement among the legal beneficiaries of the Vollard estate.
By far the most eye-catching work is André Derain's Arbres á Collioure, a knock-you-off-your-seat explosion of colour, brilliantly representing the artist's Fauve style. Estimated at being worth between £9m and £14m, Sotheby's called it one of the finest Derains ever to come to market, and it could easily set a new record for the artist when it is sold in London on 22 June 2010.
It was painted in 1905 at Collioure in the south of France, where Derain and Matisse spent the summer working together. Experts believe it may have been exhibited at the famous Salon d'Automne in Paris, an exhibition that led the critic Louis Vauxcelles to call the painters "les fauves", or the wild beasts.
The remainder – expected to raise in the region of £2.6m – will be sold in Paris. Newman said there was now a huge job to get the collection catalogued. The highlights include Cézanne's painting of Emile Zola, estimated at between €500,000 and €800,000. The two men were good childhood friends but fell out later in life, probably due to Zola's novel l'Oeuvre about an artist crippled with insecurity and unable to live up to his potential. Cézanne took offence.
Also to be sold is a Picasso etching from 1904, Le Repas Frugal, estimated at €250,000–€400,000, and a monotype by Degas, La Fête de la Patronne, estimated at €200,000–€300,000.
Sotheby's plans to exhibit the Derain in New York, Moscow and Hong Kong before showing it, along with the rest of the Vollard works, in London between 16 and 22 June 2010.
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