Sotheby’s Paris to Auction Al Thani Treasures from Storied Residence
A two-building takeover will offer a rare view into the former home of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, which was decorated in collaboration with Alberto Pinto
More than 1,400 works from the renowned Al Thani collection will be up for sale in a series of five auctions at Sotheby’s Paris between November 2 and 9, with live sales scheduled November 4–6. The offerings allow for a look inside the creative partnership between the Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani and legendary French decorator Alberto Pinto, as well as a considerable slice of Parisian cultural history. Sheikh Hamad and Pinto also worked together on the restoration of the legendary Hôtel Lambert, the source of prior stellar auction results for Sotheby’s in the neighborhood of €76.5 million.
Mario Tavella, President, Sotheby’s France and Chairman for Sotheby’s Europe, told Galerie precisely what makes the Al Thani collection holdings special. “What is so compelling about His Highness’s collection is its extraordinary breadth, but also its coherence. He could move effortlessly between centuries, cultures and disciplines, from Old Master paintings and European decorative arts to Art Déco and twentieth-century portraiture,” adding, “It does not feel like a collection assembled according to a formula. It feels like the expression of a singular eye. And to me, that is really what every collector, seasoned or new, should strive for.”
The working relationship between Alberto Pinto and Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani was professionally intimate as well as collaborative. Pinto was known for his ability to work across styles and traditions while making vast, extravagant rooms feel livable; in short, he was a go-to when it came to making palatial spaces comfortable. He became a mentor and a close friend to the Qatari collector, with whom he shared an enthusiasm for historic interiors and exquisite craftsmanship. The two worked closely on the selection of furnishings and decorative details, with Al Thani taking an active role in shaping the rooms.
More About Avenue Floquet
The private nature of the Sheikh’s home on Avenue Floquet created a different approach from what Al Thani and Pinto applied to Hôtel Lambert. Says Tavella, “This was a home, a private universe away from public view, and that gave His Highness and Alberto Pinto the freedom to be more instinctive, more intimate and, in some ways, more adventurous…The great reception rooms have the grandeur of the Grand Siècle, while upstairs you enter a much quieter, more intimate Art Déco world. It reflects the way a collector actually lives with art: not according to categories, but according to instinct, beauty and personal association.”
Sheikh Hamad’s residence on Avenue Floquet was itself special for its harmonious juxtapositions. The hôtel particulier was built in the early 20th century and passed through the stewardship of a series of owners and decorators who each bought their own singular tastes. But it beautifully avoided becoming an incongruously eclectic hodgepodge. That is one of the things that Tavella finds extraordinary about the grand house. “The personalities that were once able to call it home, each in their own way, had a very bold vision, but each one so different from the previous, that I think the house just became a temporary guardian for those visions. And the result is really this tension between knowing, and feeling, that you’ve just stepped into something much greater than you, but at the same time, something utterly personal and private. And under His Highness and Pinto, that layering became very deliberate. They understood that coherence does not necessarily mean uniformity.”
The list of previous tastemakers to put their stamp on the house began with Prince Demetre Soutzo and Princess Hélene Soutzo (a friend of Marcel Proust) before passing through the successive ownership of writer Paul Morand before passing into the hands of São Schlumberger and then the Qatari Sheikh. But Pinto himself, decorator Gabhan O’Keeffe, and Hubert de Givnenchy all had much to say, and along the way there were guest stay appearances by the likes of Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino Garavani.
Sale Highlights from the Al Thani Collection
Standouts from the sale include a group of paintings by French Art Deco artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel, as well as nearly 40 portraits with subjects such as Elizabeth I and signatures by the likes of Sir Joshua Reynolds; historical portraiture was an artistic area of special importance to His Highness. There are grand opportunities amongst the furnishings as well. Tavella spotlighted a pair of Genoese giltwood settees from the Galleria Dorata of Palazzo Carrega-Cataldi, but there is also furniture by Diego Giacometti and Eugène Printz. While the building itself is relatively new for a Parisian residence of its kind, the rooms themselves moved fluidly through eras around the dual threads of Pinto’s guidance and Sheikh Hamad’s aesthetic sensibilities.
Ahead of the sales, the works from the Al Thani collection will be presented in exhibitions at Sotheby’s current showrooms at 83 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and former headquarters at number 76, with installations designed by Jacques Garcia and Chahan Minassian. Although the original rooms will not be open for public tours, the exhibitions are a rare opportunity to see the objects that once furnished a residence whose history spans more than a century of evolution in French taste.
