Many people, including ourselves, have been annoyed by the Musée d’Orsay’s lack of preemption for the exceptional painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme that was going on sale on Friday at Daguerre (ill. 1), a fascinating image that would be a counterpoint to Édouard Manet’s Rochefort’s Escape (ill. 2), as many enthusiasts have been remarking on social networks.
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- 1. Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)
A Wreck
Oil on canvas - 70.4 x 106.3 cm
Daguerre sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 31 May 2024
Photo: Daguerre - See the image in its page
When asked, the Musée d’Orsay gave us the following response: ‘the acquisition of JL Gérôme’s painting A Wreck has indeed been considered by several Paris museums. In an unprecedented move, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée National de la Marine have agreed to organise a joint approach with the aim of achieving this. A preemption authorisation was issued by the French State for a sum slightly lower than the auction price. Under no circumstances can the amount of the preemption be adjusted, otherwise the procedure will be cancelled.
As you know, the Musée d’Orsay made a costly acquisition at the beginning of the year (the Hope Cup) and must reserve part of its budget for other major acquisitions in 2024. In view of these factors, the budgetary effort mobilised for this preemption (more than three times the high estimate) was proportionate.’
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- 2. Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Rochefort’s Escape, 1880-1881
Oil on canvas - 80 x 73 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: RMN-GP/P. Schmidt - See the image in its page
This information is perfectly accurate: a preemption had been planned, but at a slightly lower level than the auction price [1]. This calls for a number of comments.
First of all, contrary to our fears, the Musée d’Orsay has not been inactive, and we have to give it credit for that. On the other hand, we don’t understand how this operation - acquisition by two Parisian museums, each of which would then take it in turns to hang it on its own wall - came about. This is by no means unprecedented - think, for example, of the regrettable precedent of the Rembrandt Rothschild - but such a procedure (which is not, moreover, provided for by the French Heritage Law, since a painting must be included in one inventory, and cannot be included in two) is truly undesirable. While it is understandable that the Musée de la Marine should have been interested, given its low acquisition budget, Orsay’s position is strange, as the work naturally belonged there.
It is also inaccurate to say that the amount of a preemption cannot be exceeded under any circumstances. This happens regularly, as curators have confirmed. It should be pointed out that preemption allows a fortnight for confirmation, which gives the museum time to find the missing money when the difference is small, as was clearly the case here (and in the worst case to abandon the preemption). While the very low estimate was understandable in order to maximise the chances of selling the work for which there was no reserve price, the hammer price was anything but a surprise to anyone with any knowledge of the market. Obviously, more should have been planned.
But this failure can be made up for. Estimated at just 80/120,000, the painting did not require an export certificate, nor was one requested. This has the great advantage of setting an indisputable price on the international market. From now on, however, as the price of €300,000 has been exceeded, this document becomes compulsory if the painting is to be taken out of the country. So there are now two possible scenarios: either the buyer is French or intends to keep the piece in France, and this preserves the future, or the bidder is a foreigner who intends to export it, and will need to apply for the famous certificate.
The head of the ‘grand département’, who is none other than the President of Orsay, Sylvain Amic, therefore knows what he has to do: not sign the application for the certificate so that it can be refused by the Minister of Culture, and then buy the painting so that everyone can finally admire it in this museum. This can be done very quickly, since there’s no need to wait 30 months: corporate sponsorship can be dispensed with here, and all that’s needed is to find the difference between the expected amount and the final auction price, a very small sum if the museum itself is to be believed.
As art historian Pierre Jacky rightly wrote in a tweet, this extraordinary painting could very well become a ‘Mona Lisa’ for Orsay. The museum needs to buy it; it now holds all the cards.