PARIS.- After London, where Christie's will hold its traditional 20/21 Marquee Week during Frieze London, including Spellbound – The Hegewisch Collection – Paris will welcome collectors and art lovers from around the world during its modern and contemporary art week, coinciding with the fourth edition of Art Basel Paris in late October. Christie's will offer a series of auctions and events dedicated to 20th and 21st century art at the core of the international market. Starring the exceptional and monumental monochrome by Yves Klein, whose sale is poised to be a major event on the European market, two evening sales – including a major private collection – and the two-day sales will bring together leading names in modern and contemporary art. The selection includes museum-quality works from major international collections, both European (particularly French and Italian) and American.

On October 23, Christie's will open the week with Moderne(s), une collection particulière européenne. This spectacular opening to the week, features some 40 works from the European avant-garde movements, including remarkable works that have been kept in the same collection for more than 50 years, such as:

- La Passerelle Debilly – a historical painting by Paul Signac (€4-6M);

- Le Ciel passe dans l'air by René Magritte (€1-2M), Seated Girl in Brown Dress (Valerie Neuzil) by Egon Schiele (€1.5-2M), Fruit d'une longue expérience by Max Ernst (€0.8-1.2M), and Le Matelas by Domenico Gnoli, (€1.5-2M).

This last lot prefigures a subsequent selection dedicated to the great names of Italian art in the Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale, establishing a strong connection between the two events.

Also on October 23, Christie's will hold its famous flagship sale Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian. At the heart of this select collection of several dozen masterpieces:

- California, (IKB 71) by Yves Klein (Estimate on demand)

The most monumental monochrome by Yves Klein still in private hands, this exceptionally important work has never been offered at auction until now. Its sale is a major event on the European market, both in terms of its rarity and its historical impact.

- Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 7 avril 1960 by Pierre Soulages (€2-3M)

One of the most important pieces of the prestigious Max and Cécile Draime collection, this painting by Pierre Soulages was exhibited at the Butler Institute of American Art. A key institution in the history of art in the United States, the Butler Institute of American Art has been particularly committed to preserving a monumental ceramic-tile mural by the great French master. Céramique 14 Mai 1968, was saved at the behest of Max and Cécile Draime.

- Other highlights of the sale include: Fiesole by Nicolas de Staël (€1-1.5M) from the former collection of Paul Rosenberg; Deep Blue by Sam Francis (€0.7-1M) purchased directly from the artist by Amélie Matisse; Untitled by Joan Mitchell (€0.7-1M) from an American private collection. Lastly an Étude by Simon Hantaï (€0.6-0.8M) and Vierge aux fleurs by Odilon Redon (€0.7-1M), both from the same French collection.

The particularly rich Impressionist and Modern Art section includes such iconic works as:

- Femme debout by Alberto Giacometti, an exceptional rediscovery. This work comes from a private Parisian collection, where it has been carefully preserved for more than 50 years. This rare work is known only through another edition held by the Fondation Alberto Giacometti, highlighting its historical and artistic importance (€5-7M).
- Other highlights of the sale include: a beautiful marble sculpture by Jean Hans Arp Urpuppe (or Pre-Adamite Doll) from the MoMA in New York, which will be sold to benefit the museum's acquisition fund; a 1943 composition by André Masson, La Belle Italienne paying tribute to the creativity of the Surrealist artist (€0.6-0.8M); a very touching and spontaneous portrait of Marguerite Matisse painted by her father Henri Matisse at the very beginning of the 20th century, recently exhibited at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris during the 2025 exhibition Matisse et Marguerite, Le regard d'un père (€0.5–0.8M); Julie Manet à la perruche by Berthe Morisot (€0.8-1.2M) and Jeune fille au chapeau de paille by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (€1-1.5M).

Another highlight, the Thinking Italian section of the sale will present a new selection of major works by Alighiero Boetti, Lucio Fontana, Mario Schifano, Maurizio Cattelan, Giovanni Anselmo, and Jannis Kounellis – including Sans titre, an exceptional work from 1959. Part of his most iconic and sought-after series, this rare work was exhibited at the PAC retrospective in Milan in 1992. Equivalent pieces are held in the permanent collections of the MoMA, Tate, Centre Pompidou, and GNAM in Rome. Kept in the same collection for more than 40 years, it embodies the dialogue between Italian art and major international institutions (€1-1.5M).

At the center of the Thinking Italian section, collector will find five works from the renowned Alessandro Grassi collection, ten of which will be sold this fall in London, Paris, and New York after being exhibited in Turin, Rome and Milan. The sale will also include a unique set of 30 multicolored Arazzi by Alighiero Boetti, a selection of Tagli by Lucio Fontana, tributes to Arnaldo Pomodoro and Fausto Melotti, historical pieces by Giovanni Anselmo and a rare futuristic drawing by Giacomo Balla (1912). Untitled (Zorro) by Maurizio Cattelan, exhibited at the Guggenheim in 2011, will conclude the section with a contemporary nod.

On October 24, the day sales will focus on two key events: an Impressionist and Modern art auction, and a Contemporary art auction:

The Art Moderne sale will feature works by Marc Chagall, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Francis Picabia, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse from several prestigious private collections. Gems in the sale include a Fillette au perroquet by Paul Cézanne recently rediscovered at the Musée Granet in Aix en Provence. Painted in 1860, it is one of the very few early paintings that announces the painter's oeuvre. A Portrait d'Ambroise Adam by Édouard Manet is the first to be painted outdoors – a key moment for this artist who, breaking with academic tradition, goes on to establish a new aesthetic based on direct experience and reality. Finally, a remarkable set of around 10 sculptures by Rembrandt Bugatti, amassed over the past 15 years by a French collector, provides an accurate chronological account of the artist's development, offering an almost monographic perspective on his work (estimates ranging from €30,000 to €220,000).

The Art Contemporain sale will close the week by bringing together a carefully curated and richly diverse selection of around 100 lots from the post-war period to the present day. It includes pieces by such iconic artists as Georg Baselitz, Simon Hantaï, Victor Vasarely, Georges Mathieu, Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Hans Hartung. The sale will also feature a selection of artists, including Enrico Castellani, Arnaldo Pomodoro (recently deceased), Alighiero Boetti, Salvo, Lucio Fontana, Leoncillo Leonardi, Fausto Melotti and Mario Schifano.

Preview : 9 Avenue Matignon from October 17 to 24, 2025.

Finally, Christie's has given carte blanche to Stéphane Thidet to create a monumental, on-site installation on the facade of its Paris headquarters. A site-specific poetic gesture, the work will mark the entrance to the Matignon Saint-Honoré art district, which will officially mark the opening of the Paris Art Week on Monday, October 20, 2025.