September at Drouot

Another highlight will be La Re-prise de la Bastille, a monumental installation by design studio 5.5 in partnership with Drouot Estimations, which will transform the July Column with 196 flags during Paris Design Week.

On the auction front, the month will be marked by the exceptional reappearance of No. 5 of Camille Claudel’s L’Âge mûr at Philocale, as well as a packed week of sales organised by Millon, including the dispersal of Brigitte Bardot’s personal memorabilia. Lucien Paris will offer a true Parisian monument: the Halle aux Moutons de La Villette, while Aurélien Lechertier will unveil a previously unseen portrait by John Singer Sargent. Ader will pay tribute to gallerist Jeanne Castel, while the month will conclude with two first-of-their-kind themed sales: the world of PLAYMOBIL at Pestel-Debord and Japanese animation from the 1980s at Nouvelle Etude.

For the European Heritage Days on 19 and 20 September, Hôtel Drouot will exceptionally open its doors for a weekend dedicated to discovery. Behind-the-scenes tours, themed visits, workshops, meetings with experts and auctions will unfold over the two days, offering visitors a unique insight into the world of auctions.

Visitors will be able to explore Drouot behind the scenes, from its delivery areas to the archives of this iconic institution, discover how an auction works and take part in If I Had a Hammer…, an immersive experience allowing participants to step into the shoes of an auctioneer, auction caller or bidder during a mock sale. Demonstrations of tapestry-making, gilding and stained-glass techniques will also showcase traditional crafts and the expertise involved in preserving our heritage.

The programme will also spotlight works and collections presented by the auction houses. Several auctions will exceptionally be open to the public free of charge throughout the weekend.

What if Saturday became the day to step through Drouot’s doors and enjoy a truly unique cultural experience?

rom 19 September, Hôtel Drouot will launch a new format with A Saturday at Drouot. By opening its doors every Saturday, the institution is introducing a programme that transforms this temple of auctions into a place for exploration, encounters and exchange, open to everyone, particularly those unable to visit during the week.

The ambition is clear: to make Hôtel Drouot a place people visit as much for its history as for the experience it offers. A place to learn, exchange ideas, have fun and discover something new… and where, for one Saturday, anyone can become part of the world of auctions.

Each Saturday will focus on a different theme, offering a new way to discover the fascinating world of auctions. Art lovers, curious visitors, children and adults, families, collectors and casual passers-by are all invited to step through the doors of this legendary Paris institution at the start of the weekend, explore its behind-the-scenes world and enjoy experiences found nowhere else.

Claire & Jean-Séb. take the Bastille!
In partnership with Festival du Monde and Refashion, the design duo and co-founders of studio 5.5 will present a monumental work during Paris Design Week, echoing the history of this square, a symbol of freedom and revolution. Around the July Column, 196 flags – representing the 195 UN member and observer states, together with one white flag – will fly from six-metre-high bamboo poles, transforming the site into a space for coexistence and reflection on peace and the unity of peoples.

Each unique flag will be handmade from discarded clothing collected through Refashion’s partner organisations, including the Vosges TLC reuse centre. Working flag by flag, the designers will create textile patchworks which will then be pinned and sewn together by the seamstresses at the workshops of Huriya association. The choice of material is far from incidental: La Re-prise de la Bastille advocates for a more sustainable approach to fashion while raising awareness of textile sorting and recycling – clothes should never simply end up in the bin, and discarded materials can even be transformed into works of art.

Each flag will be offered for auction on Drouot.com until 20 September.

Following the sensation created by the sale of No. 1 of Camille Claudel’s L’Âge mûr, organised by Philocale in February 2025 under the hammer of Matthieu Semont, with Lacroix Jeannest acting as expert advisers, a major new event is set to make waves in the art market: the reappearance of No. 5 from this legendary edition. Never previously offered at public auction, this exceptional work is now coming to light again, with an estimate of €1.5–2 million.

A major figure in art history, Camille Claudel remains the world’s most celebrated female sculptor. Long overshadowed by Auguste Rodin and only recognised fully later in life, her work has attracted growing interest from collectors, institutions and the international market over recent decades. Despite a reputation that extends far beyond France, her major sculptures remain relatively underrepresented in major international collections. Against this backdrop, the appearance of a previously unseen example of L’Âge mûr on the market is an event of exceptional significance, one that could leave a lasting mark on the art market and further consolidate Claudel’s position among the leading sculptors of her generation.

From 14 to 21 September, Millon will take over the entire first floor of Hôtel Drouot, with a particularly wide-ranging programme spanning jewellery, furniture and works of art, Russian militaria, modern art, numismatics, watches and decorative arts.

The week of sales will begin on Wednesday 16 September with two auctions: Boudoir de Madame, in Room 2, bringing together a fine selection of jewellery, and Biennale – Siècles Classiques & Arts de la table, in Room 5. On Thursday 17 and Friday 18 September, the focus will shift to the Collection of Monsieur G., devoted to Imperial Russia and presented in Rooms 1 and 7. Other highlights include 19th- and 20th-century paintings in Room 4, a watch collection in Rooms 2–3 and the rich Philippe Olland collection of glass, with a particular focus on Art Nouveau, in Room 6.

The weekend will take a festive turn in Room 5 with a sale devoted to French and international songs, accompanied by Fabien Lecœuvre. The week will conclude on Monday 21 September with two prestigious sales. Room 4 will host the Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert Collection, comprising around 160 works, mainly from Nepal and the Himalayan regions, while Room 9 will be devoted to an icon: Brigitte Bardot.

On 21 September 2026, at Hôtel Drouot, Millon will auction 285 objects from Brigitte Bardot’s homes in Saint-Tropez and Paris, at the request of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The sale continues a gesture first made by the actress in 1987, when she sold personal memorabilia to support the animal welfare cause and the Foundation she had just established.

From her early days as a dancer to the emergence of BB and her subsequent commitment to animal welfare, the collection reflects the different lives of a woman who became a global icon. Film posters, photographs, drawings dedicated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, Dubout, Kiraz, Folon and Léonor Fini, as well as self-portraits made by Bardot herself, bear witness to the image shaped around her by artists and the media.

At La Madrague, acquired in 1958, as at La Garrigue, Brigitte Bardot created spaces that reflected her personality: simple, bohemian and deeply connected to her everyday life. An Emmanuelle chair, wicker baskets, a Peugeot bicycle, furniture, paintings, tableware and domestic objects offer a portrait far removed from the spotlight. Her library, signed books, drawings by Charles Kiffer and other personal belongings reveal a more intimate Brigitte Bardot, deeply attached to memories and the everyday objects that surrounded her.

For the European Heritage Days, the 17th edition of Paris Mon Amour, organised by Lucien Paris at Hôtel Drouot, will bring back to light a forgotten monument of Second Empire Paris: the vast metal structure of the Halle aux Moutons de La Villette, inaugurated in 1867 in the wake of Victor Baltard.

Dismantled following the demolition of the market hall in the 1980s, this iron and cast-iron structure, now preserved in the form of 672 individual elements, covers nearly 5,800 sq m. It will be offered at auction with an estimate of around €2 million. The La Villette project originated with the work of Victor Baltard, a leading figure in Parisian architecture, architect of the City of Paris and creator of the Central Markets. In 1859, the City of Paris also entrusted him with the overall design of new livestock markets and slaughterhouses; their construction was subsequently assigned to Jules de Mérindol, a pupil of Baltard, assisted by Louis-Adolphe Janvier.

The Halle aux Moutons embodied the meeting of industry and monumentality: Baltard favoured a light, clearly articulated structure in which metal was no longer concealed, but became the very expression of the building. For more than a century, the Halle aux Moutons was part of the history of La Villette. When the slaughterhouses closed in 1974, the site took on a new purpose and the hall became, among other things, the Pavillon de Paris, before finally being demolished in 1986. Today, this remarkable fragment of industrial Paris is returning to the market, offering a rare opportunity to bring an emblematic Second Empire architecture back to life in a new form.

Aurélien Lechertier will present, at its 21 September 2026 sale at Drouot, a rare and important work by John Singer Sargent, one of the leading figures of late 19th-century international painting.
Portrait d’enfant, René Kieffer, painted by John Singer Sargent in 1879, has remained in the sitter’s family ever since it was created. Preserved by René Kieffer’s direct descendants for almost a century and a half, it has never previously been offered at public auction.

In 1879, John Singer Sargent was just twenty-three. Having lived in Paris for several years, he was continuing his training in the studio of Carolus-Duran, quickly emerging as one of his most gifted pupils. These Paris years were formative in Sargent’s career. This portrait captures a pivotal moment in his development, shortly before the major commissions that would establish his international reputation.

The work reveals an artist already fully in command of his abilities. Although it predates by several years the grand society portraits that would establish Sargent on the international stage, it already displays all the essential qualities of his mature style: psychological insight, elegant composition, mastery of light and an extraordinary economy of means, using just a few brushstrokes to convey the texture of fabrics, the freshness of the sitter’s complexion and the depth of his gaze.

On 25 September 2026, Ader will auction 75 works from the Jeanne Castel Gallery at Hôtel Drouot. The sale brings back into focus the distinctive personality of this gallerist and collector, an important figure in the Paris art market, known for her independence, instinct and unwavering loyalty to the artists she championed. Jeanne Castel (1888–1969) belonged to a generation of women who helped shape the history of modern painting in Paris. She turned her gallery into a key venue on the artistic scene. But before becoming an art dealer, Jeanne Castel was first and foremost a passionate collector, guided by a discerning eye and an intuition that never left her.

An unwavering supporter of numerous artists, she championed Soutine, Derain, Matisse, Modigliani, Chastel, Utrillo, Toulouse-Lautrec, Ozenfant, Jean Hélion and Javier Vilató Ruiz, among others. This loyalty is strikingly reflected in the works gathered for the sale. Three paintings by Jean Hélion testify to the particular place the artist held in Jeanne Castel’s collection, notably La Citrouille à l’atelier, painted in 1957–1958. This large canvas, from the artist’s Paris studio, belongs to a series in which Hélion gives ordinary objects – pumpkins, hats, umbrellas and bread – a monumental presence.

What if the little smiling figures from our childhood had a place in the auction room too? On Saturday 26 September 2026, Hôtel Drouot will host its first-ever sale devoted entirely to the world of PLAYMOBIL. Organised by auction house Pestel-Debord, the sale will feature more than 280 lots from advertising and promotional archives, with proceeds going to CEKEDUBONHEUR, an association supporting hospitalised children.

This first-of-its-kind event highlights a phenomenon well known to enthusiasts: for several decades, PLAYMOBIL has been more than just a toy, becoming a true collector’s item passed down from one generation to the next. Bringing together pieces used exclusively in professional settings, the sale offers an exceptional group that has never been commercially available to the general public. Among them, giant figurines and promotional displays are particularly sought after by collectors: designed for shops and events, they are extremely rare on the market and have so far circulated only privately.

Nouvelle Etude’s forthcoming sale celebrating the animation of the 1980s, Univers de l’Animation V, will comprise more than 400 lots. It is the fifth sale devoted to this speciality organised by the auction house at Hôtel Drouot alongside expert Florian Bourguet. The sale will focus on a major collection of cels tracing the history of legendary animation, from Japan to France and Belgium.

From My Neighbour Totoro to Dragon Ball, One Piece, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon and Pokémon, the sale will bring together a whole cast of iconic characters who have populated the visual world of children born in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as subsequent generations. Estimated at between €100 and €5,000, the collection includes original cels and preparatory drawings, notably from Toei Animation (Captain Harlock, Goldorak, Candy Candy, Fist of the North Star), alongside an important selection of works from Studio Ghibli, including Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke.