Sotheby’s will relocate its Paris headquarters to 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was once the home of the famed Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.
That puts the Paris auction house three blocks from its current location. The move is scheduled for mid-October, and is part of a larger strategy to expand Sotheby’s presence in France.
The house has previously announced plans to relocate two of its other spaces. In July, it will open a new Hong Kong location, and in 2025, Sotheby’s will move its New York space to the Breuer building, which once housed the Whitney Museum.
Sotheby’s new Paris headquarters will cover more than 10,800 square feet across five floors, offering 30 percent more exhibition space than its current location in the French capital. The venue, which is not far from the Champs-Élysées, will boast a café and a wine cellar with a tasting area, and will play host to year-round master classes, dining, and, of course, auctions.
The new Paris location will support Sotheby’s 15 specialist departments, covering areas such as ancient, modern, and contemporary art, as well as Asian and African art, design, luxury goods, and jewelry.
Upstairs, the auction will install a luxury showroom called “the Salon,” with items for sale at fixed prices, as well as rooms dedicated to private sales. Additional areas in the new Paris headquarters can be used for concerts, parties, conferences, cocktail parties, fashion shows, and dinners. The auction house says that its “state-of-the-art scenographic and technical equipment” will enable a wide range of works and objects to be showcased.
The space was once the site of Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, which closed in 2019 after more than a century in business. The gallery held Van Gogh’s first retrospective and once employed Félix Fénéon, a famed art critic.
Mario Tavella, president of Sotheby’s France and chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said the move “underscores our commitment to France and highlights the growing importance of the French art and luxury markets to our company.”
The building will feature restored Art Deco elements, modern amenities and sustainable lighting and will be accessible to people with reduced mobility. Access to both exhibitions and auctions will be free to the public. According to the house’s announcement, there will be over 15 miles of cable installed into the new space to ensure the house’s “digital prowess” and global connectivity.
Paris’s reputation as a European art market hub has grown considerably in recent years, with galleries and art fairs, including the recently rechristened Art Basel Paris, moving in to the French capital.
