Art, according to antique dealer Alexis Kugel, was a vital need for Yves Saint Laurent; it was indispensable for his inspiration, like water to survive. It soothed his depressive character.
The private collection that was so crucial to the work of French designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge has been put up for auction and will be sold in February 2009, auction house Christie’s said on Wednesday.
French daily Le Figaro said the collection features several hundred pieces including Renaissance jewelry, paintings by masters such as Picasso and Matisse, and manuscripts of the works of French authors Gustave Flaubert and Andre Guide.
The auction house declined to estimate how much the collection was likely to fetch until those items had been identified, but experts have put the figure between 300 and 500 million euros, ($472 million-$787 million).
Saint Laurent, one of the leading figures in 20th-century French fashion, died in Paris in June at the age of 71.
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