A recently rediscovered painting by Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi sold for €865,000 ($1.19 million) at a Sotheby's Paris auction, shattering the artist's previous auction record set in 1998. The work, which had been hidden for over 80 years in southern France, fetched nearly three times its presale estimate after being identified by Sotheby's Old Master department.
Sotheby’s Paris raised €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from two live sales of the Manny Davidson collection this week, with a third online sale still ongoing. The collection, spanning nearly 500 lots, included rediscovered Old Masters, 18th-century gold enamel, and an automaton clock by James Cox. Highlights included Michael Sweerts’s *A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test* (1648–52), which sold for €1.6 million, and Joshua Reynolds’s *Self-Portrait, in doctoral robes* (ca. 1770), which fetched €838,200. The evening sale achieved 83% sell-through by lot, with most buyers from Europe and a third from the US.
Sotheby's Paris is selling "The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence," a multi-owner sale of nearly 500 lots spanning Old Masters, 19th-century British paintings, 18th-century gold enamel, and decorative objects. Highlights include a rediscovered Michael Sweerts portrait estimated at €800,000–€1.2 million, a Thomas de Keyser portrait of a silversmith, and a Joshua Reynolds self-portrait study. The sale, which includes an evening auction on November 5 and an online component, was previewed by Sotheby's global head of private sales, Old Masters, Chloe Stead.
A René Magritte painting, *La Magie Noire* (1934), will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris on October 24 with a high estimate of €7 million ($8.1 million). The work has remained in the same private collection for nearly a century, having been acquired directly from the artist by the family of World War II resistance heroine Suzanne Spaak, who was executed by the Gestapo in 1944 for helping Jewish children escape Nazi persecution. The painting depicts Magritte’s wife, Georgette Berger, and is the first of ten portraits in which the female body merges with sky, stone, and spirit.
On Wednesday in Paris, Sotheby's auctioned a collection of Napoleonic artifacts from the private collection of prominent French antiques dealer Pierre-Jean Chalençon, generating €8.7 million ($9.6 million) against a €6 million estimate. The 112-lot sale included imperial furniture, Old Master paintings, and personal relics such as Napoleon's worn stockings and a copy of his marriage certificate. Highlights included a portrait by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse that sold for €863,600 (20 times its estimate) and the only surviving remnant of Napoleon's first will, which fetched €482,600. However, Napoleon's bicorne hat underperformed, selling for €355,600 against a €600,000 low estimate, amid provenance questions raised by French newspaper Le Figaro.
François-Xavier Lalanne's functional sculpture "Ostrich Bar" (1965) sold for €11.1 million ($12.5 million) at Sotheby's Paris on May 20, far exceeding its €3–4 million estimate after an 11-minute bidding war. The piece, one of only six ever produced, features two porcelain ostriches gripping a metal shelf with a central egg for ice cubes; it was the artist's personal favorite, kept in his bedroom for over four decades. The sale took place within Sotheby's Important Design sale curated by model Betty Catroux.
Sotheby's Paris achieved record-breaking totals for surrealist and modern art auctions during Art Basel Paris week, with combined sales of €89.7 million ($104 million) across its Surrealism and Its Legacy and Modernités sales—a 50 percent increase over the same event last year. The top lot was Amedeo Modigliani's *Elvire en buste* (1918-1919), which sold for €27 million ($31.3 million), the highest auction price for a painting by the Italian artist in France and the most valuable work ever sold by Sotheby's Paris. Other highlights included Modigliani's *Raymond* (1915) at €10.6 million, René Magritte's *La Magie Noire* (1934) at €10.7 million, and a complete set of Pablo Picasso's *Séries 347* etchings, which set a French auction record for any print by the artist.
The original Le Birkin handbag, crafted by Hermès in 1985 for actress and singer Jane Birkin, sold for €8.5 million ($10 million) at Sotheby's Paris on July 10. The bag, which shows visible wear from decades of use, sparked a 10-minute bidding war among nine buyers and was purchased by a private collector from Japan. It broke records as the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction and the highest-selling fashion item in Europe.
Jane Birkin's original Hermès Birkin handbag prototype has been consigned to Sotheby's Paris for sale in July. The all-black leather bag, commissioned in 1984 by then-Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas in collaboration with Birkin, is a one-of-a-kind piece that has been in a private collection in France since 2000. Sotheby's has not set a public estimate, citing its unique status, and will communicate it privately to potential bidders. The bag was exhibited at Sotheby's Paris and Hong Kong, and previously at the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Sotheby's Paris achieved a new French auction record for Claude Monet on April 16, 2026, with 'Vétheuil, effet du matin' (1901) selling for €10.2 million, far above its €6-8 million estimate. The evening sale generated €35 million total, an 84% increase over the 2025 session, also featuring strong results for Marc Chagall, Lucio Fontana, and Rembrandt Bugatti. Meanwhile, Christie's Paris celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 'Thinking Italian' section with a complete sell-out of 11 lots, including a new auction record for Ettore Spalletti's 'Mobile' (1974) at €203,200. The overall Paris modern and contemporary art week reached a record €80.9 million, up 39% year-on-year.