Christie's Paris sells Renault art collection for €10.5M, Chardin sets new record at €26.7M

On June 6, 2024, Christie's Paris sold 33 lots from the Renault art collection for €10.5 million, surpassing the pre-sale estimate of €4.5–6.3 million in a white-glove auction. Highlights included Jean Dubuffet's Lice Tapisse (€1.37M), Niki de Saint Phalle's The White Goddess / La femme brune (€567,000), and Robert Rauschenberg's 1-800 (Salvage) (€831,600). Proceeds will fund the new Renault art and culture foundation. On June 12, Christie's Paris sold Jean Siméon Chardin's Le melon entamé (1760) for €26.7 million, a new auction record for the artist and the highest price for an Old Master in France, a French 18th-century painter globally, and the most expensive artwork sold in France in 2024. The oval-shaped still life, estimated at €8–12 million, was acquired by a private European collector. The Renault collection, initiated in the 1960s by executive Claude-Louis Renard, comprises over 500 works and was partially deaccessioned to support cultural initiatives.