The 74-year-old Golden Globe winner is facing a spate of sexual violence allegations dating back two decades. Collection includes works by Rodin, Duchamp and Germaine Richier
ADVERTISEMENTFrance's arguably best-known living actor Gérard Depardieu is to put 250 works from his 20th-century art collection up for sale at Paris' Hotel Drouot at the end of September.
The Golden Globe winner, who is facing a spate of harassment allegations, is set to sell much of his collection, which is expected to fetch between €3-5 million.
The collection includes bronzes by Rodin, the artist he portrayed in a film alongside Isabelle Adjani, five works by Calder, and a painting by Hans Hartung, among others.
David Nordmann, the auctioneer at Ader said when presenting the sale on Thursday that Depardieu wished to "lighten his load a little."
"These are works of art that, in his home, are piled up next to each other. In fact, he likes to play with this stacking because none of Gérard Depardieu's works hang on the wall. So it's a very unusual thing," Nordmann added.
Depardieu, who has completed over 250 films in a career spanning six decades, was accused of sexual violence by 13 people in April.
The alleged incidents were said to have been committed on 11 shoots between 2004 and 2022
The 74-year-old is also under investigation for the suspected rape and sexual assault of an actress in 2018.
He denies the allegations.
The auctioneer said he hopes people will make a distinction between the accusations and the quality of the collection.
"I hope that people will make a clear distinction between (legal) news and the quality of this collection", Nordmann said.
