Sotheby’s will relocate its Paris headquarters to 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 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 Marcel Breuer–designed Brutalist structure completed in 1966 for the Whitney Museum.
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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 house a café and a wine cellar with a tasting area, and 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 will be 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 will provide spaces for concerts, parties, conferences, cocktail parties, fashion shows, and dinners. The auction house’s “state-of-the-art scenographic and technical equipment” will enable the exhibition of a wide range of works and objects.
The building 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 famed art critic Félix Fénéon.
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 more than 15 miles of cable installed in 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 to the French capital.