In Jacques Doucet’s private mansion in Neuilly, a painting by Francis Picabia hung next to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. That work, together with more than two hundred other pieces, will now return to the market: in December the Michel Périnet Cailles auction in Paris organized by Sotheby’s will disperse the collection of one of the most influential couples in the world of 20th-century French collecting and jewelry.
Key points
- In December, Sotheby’s will auction in Paris more than 200 works from the collection of Michel Périnet and Françoise Cailles.
- The collection brings together Art Nouveau, Art Déco and Surrealism in a single domestic universe.
- At the center of the sale, six works by Francis Picabia, including Sans titre and La Veuve joyeuse, which have long remained out of public view.
- Among the rarest pieces, jewelry signed by Lalique, Boivin and Cartier.
- The collection was kept together for over fifty years before its dispersal.
Sotheby’s auction in Paris of the Périnet and Cailles collection
The Michel Périnet Cailles auction in Paris marks the end of a collecting unity built over half a century of personal and passionate choices. Sotheby’s has announced that in December more than two hundred works from the couple’s collection will be auctioned, a heritage that spans painting, sculpture, jewelry and decorative arts.
Overview of the December sale
The Paris sale brings together pieces that for decades have remained outside the public circuit, many of them with illustrious provenances. This is not a simple liquidation of assets: the dispersal brings back to the market works that were selected according to a coherent aesthetic criterion, capable of creating a dialogue between different eras and languages. For collectors and professionals in the field, this means the opportunity to acquire pieces with an exhibition history and provenance that are difficult to replicate, elements that in the art market directly affect the valuation and desirability of a work.
Different artistic styles and major works
The Périnet-Cailles collection stands out for its ability to make Art Nouveau, Art Déco and Surrealism coexist without rigid hierarchies. Picabia entered into dialogue with Dunand, Lalique and Boivin stood alongside African and Oceanic art, and Cubist sculpture found its place next to designer furniture.
Key works by Francis Picabia
Six works by Francis Picabia form the strong core of the sale. Sans titre, a watercolor from 1926–27, comes from the historic dispersal of Jacques Doucet’s collection in 1972 and is precisely the work that shared the Neuilly wall with Picasso’s masterpiece. Femme à l’ombrelle has an equally significant pedigree: it was purchased by André Breton after the 1926 sale of Picabia’s works that had belonged to Marcel Duchamp, and was later displayed in the window of the Galerie Surréaliste in Paris. La Veuve joyeuse, dated 1921, is instead a Dadaist icon that caused a scandal when it was exhibited at the Salon.
Alongside the painting and sculpture section is Art Déco, present throughout the couple’s apartment: a rare five-compartment bookcase signed by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand, in palm wood; the Exotic forest screen created by Jean Dunand and Jean Lambert-Rucki, previously exhibited in 1923 at the Galerie Georges Petit and in 1925 at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris; the Fleur cubiste by Joseph Csaky, a unique 1923 piece in granite and amethyst, with the provenances of Marcel Coard and Léonce Rosenberg.
Jewelry treasures and profiles of the collectors
Jewelry lies at the very origin of the story of Périnet and Cailles, and occupies a central place in the sale. The collection includes rare and often unique pieces signed by Lalique, Boivin and Cartier: a Lalique bodice ornament in enamel, chrysoprase and diamonds, and a Boivin articulated lion-shaped brooch in yellow gold and diamonds, dating from around 1950.
Who are Michel Périnet and Françoise Cailles
Michel Périnet was an antiques dealer, merchant and collector with an almost instinctive flair, among the first to grasp the value of Art Nouveau when the market had not yet recognized its centrality. Françoise Cailles was instead a historian and scholar, considered an authority on the work of René Boivin. Their sensibilities remained distinct while touching: she sought perfection of execution, delicacy of detail, the history of the jewel and the atelier that produced it; he was attracted to bold creations endowed with presence and uniqueness. This dual vision produced a selection of rare precision, which today represents one of the most sought-after aspects of the entire collection in view of the auction.
The unique domestic universe of Périnet and Cailles
The couple’s apartment in Saint-Germain-des-Prés was not just a place of residence, but the materialization of an idea of taste. Inside, the hierarchies between genres and cultures became porous, in a continuous juxtaposition of works, eras and different provenances.
The collection in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés apartment
“Entering the Parisian home of Michel Périnet and Françoise Cailles was like crossing the threshold of a world entirely shaped by them; Art Nouveau, Art Déco and Surrealism coexisted there in perfect balance,” said Aurélie Vandevoorde, Vice President of Sotheby’s Paris. Her words convey the sense of a collection that was never conceived as a sum of separate investments, but as a coherent discourse on taste.
For the art market, the story has a significance that goes beyond the individual auction catalog: when a collection kept together for more than fifty years is dispersed, each piece once again comes to be evaluated individually, often benefiting from the prestigious provenance accumulated over time. Picabia’s works, signed Art Déco furniture and Lalique, Boivin and Cartier jewelry arrive on the market with a pedigree that is unlikely to recur, a factor that tends to sustain the interest of collectors and institutions.
This winter, the works from the Périnet-Cailles collection will be returned, one by one, to their individual histories. What will remain is the act of having known how to choose them and keep them together for half a century.
FAQ
When and where will the auction of the Périnet and Cailles collection take place?
The auction will be organized by Sotheby’s in Paris in the month of December.
What kinds of works are included in the Périnet and Cailles collection?
The collection includes Art Nouveau, Art Déco and Surrealist works, as well as paintings, sculptures and rare jewelry pieces.
Which works by well-known artists are highlighted in the auction?
There are six works by Francis Picabia, including Sans titre and La Veuve joyeuse.
Who were Michel Périnet and Françoise Cailles?
Michel Périnet was an antiques dealer and collector with a particular focus on Art Nouveau; Françoise Cailles was a historian and scholar specializing in the jewelry of René Boivin.
Content produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and with human editorial review.
Social media manager at The Cryptonomist
