Headquarters of Artcurial auction house, at the corner of the Avenue Montaigne and the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées, Paris
Artcurial was founded in 2002, just at the time the French auction market was opening up to competition, and quickly became the leading French auction house. Since then the firm has continually innovated, launching new specialties such as Design and Street Art, which are a major international success.
Today, as a multi-faceted auction house, Artcurial enjoys international recognition and has earned its place at the forefront of the art market. With sales taking place mainly in Paris, Monaco and Marrakech, the auction house will achieve a total sales volume of €217 million in 2023.
Conceived as a cultural venue, the passion for works of art and collectors’ items is expressed around a core of main specialities - from fine art to decorative art, collectors’ cars, jewellery, important clocks and watches, fine wines and spirits, etc., in fact more than 25 areas of expertise.
Artcurial is resolutely international in scope, extending its expertise beyond France and exporting its know-how abroad. The company has established offices in Brussels, Milan, Monaco, Marrakech, and Munich, as well as a presence in Beijing, Vienna and Spain, and occasional exhibitions in New York.
In 2017, the Artcurial group acquires one of the greatest actors in the world of luxury real-estate, John Taylor. With this acquisition, Artcurial develops its international position in the intermediation and sale of exceptional goods.
Competent specialist, acknowledged and recognized in each area of expertise, the Group is now able to bring an international client base the best advice and service regarding exceptional goods altogether.
In 2023, Artcurial acquired the Swiss auction house Beurret Bailly Widmer Auktionen – now Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer – with the ambition to expand its network in Switzerland.
Acquisition of the Beurret Bailly Widmer auction house
€24.4M for a work by Jean-Siméon Chardin
Creation of a subsidiary Artcurial and opening of a representative office in Marrakech
€9.5M for an artwork by Paul Gauguin
Acquisition of John Taylor - one of the oldest luxury real estate companies - by the Artcurial Group
Opening of a representative office in Munich
Creation of a subsidiary Artcurial and opening of a representative office in Monaco
First auctions in Hong Kong and in Marrakech
Arrival of an Artcurial representative in Vienna
Opening of representative offices in Brussels and in Milan
Participation in artist Laurent Grasso's exhibition at the Venice Biennale
Creation of Artcurial Motorcars
Début du partenariat avec le Prix Marcel Duchamp
First auctions in Monaco
Arrival of auctioneer François Tajan
€6.8M for a bureau plat XVIIIe stamped Joseph Baumhauer
Artcurial becomes the French auction house leader
Creation of the Artcurial auction house by Nicolas Orlowski, in association with the auctioneers Francis Briest & Hervé Poulain
Nicolas Orlowski
CEO
Nicolas Orlowski is Chairman of Artcurial group, which he founded in 2002. An entrepreneur at heart, he has created and built several companies connected with the art of living and luxury sectors.
Joséphine Dubois
Deputy General Manager
In 1999, after graduating with a Master’s in Banking and Insurance, Josephine Dubois joined Nicolas Orlowski’s press and luxury trade show businesses as a general manager.
Stéphane Aubert
Associate Director
Auctioneer since 2003 after studying law and art history.
In 2005, he created the Inventories and Collections department and coordinates the company's teams of specialists.
Matthieu Fournier
Associate Director
Matthieu Fournier joined Artcurial in 2005 as both a specialist and an auctioneer, and in 2007 created the department dedicated to Old Master & the 19th Century Art.
Bruno Jaubert
Associate Director
In 2002, after 15 years spent working firstly in publishing and then the modern art market with major Parisian auction houses, Bruno Jaubert joined the Impressionist and Modern Art Department of the newly created Artcurial auction house.
Matthieu Lamoure
Managing Director of Artcurial Motorcars
Matthieu Lamoure has been running Artcurial Motorcars since 2010, when he took over Artucurial’s Classic Cars Department created by Hervé Poulain.
Olivier Berman
Associate Director
Olivier Berman began his career in the 1980s at the Galerie Gary-Roche, which had been founded by his grand-parents at the end of the 19th century. He contributed to the rediscovery of movements which were little known at the time, most notably Orientalism and Symbolism.
Sabrina Dolla
Associate Director
After a postgraduate degree in business law, Sabrina Dolla defended a thesis on the end of the auctioneers' monopoly in European competition law, which led her to discover this fascinating world.
Martin Guesnet
Senior Associate Director
Martin Guesnet, half French half German, is passionate about contemporary art. For 10 years he was an actor with avant-garde theatre troops in Germany before switching to concentrate on the fine arts.
Arnaud Oliveux
Associate Director
Arnaud Oliveux, who holds a degree in civil law, developed a passion for contemporary art during his studies at the École du Louvre between 1996 and 2000, where he studied under Bernard Blistène, Christine Macel and Laurent Le Bon.
Marie Sanna
Associate Director
After having worked alongside Francis Briest for fourteen years, in 2002 Marie Sanna-Legrand joined him at Artcurial, in the Modern Paintings department.
Hugues Sébilleau
Associate Director
After several years at the Étude Briest, from 1988 to 1992, during which he played an active part in the art market and then in finance, in 2003 Hugues Sébilleau again joined Francis Briest at Artcurial’s Post-War & Contemporary Art department.
Julie Valade
Associate Director
With a law degree, studies at the prestigious Louvre School of Art and as a graduate of the French National Institute of Gemmology, Julie Valade earned her stripes working alongside Jacques Tajan in the Art Deco Department, then in managing the Jewellery Department at Tajan auction house.
Serge Lemoine
Scientific Advisor
Serge Lemoine is a French art historian. He has shared his time between university teaching and managing the Museum of Grenoble and Paris’s Musée d’Orsay.
Nicolas Orlowski
CEO
Nicolas Orlowski is Chairman of Artcurial group, which he founded in 2002. An entrepreneur at heart, he has created and built several companies connected with the art of living and luxury sectors.
Joséphine Dubois
Deputy General Manager
In 1999, after graduating with a Master’s in Banking and Insurance, Josephine Dubois joined Nicolas Orlowski’s press and luxury trade show businesses as a general manager.
Hervé Poulain
Honorary Chairman of Groupe Artcurial SA
Hervé Poulain is an emblematic figure in the art world and has orchestrated with great aplomb sales in all specialities since 1969.
Francis Briest
Auctioneer, Co-founder of Artcurial
Co-founder of Artcurial, a graduate in Art History and Gemmology together with a Law degree, Francis Briest was Chairman and then co-Chairman of the auction house from 2002 to 2015.
Francis Briest, Olivier Costa de Beauregard, Natacha Dassault, Thierry Dassault, Carole Fiquémont, Marie-Hélène Habert, Nicolas Orlowski, Hervé Poulain.