Nicolas Orlowski’s Artcurial Purchases Swiss Auction House to Expand in Europe

French auction house Artcurial is expanding into Switzerland with its acquisition of Swiss auctioneer Beurret Bailly Widmer.

Artcurial, which currently has sales locations in Paris, Monaco and Morocco, will keep the Swiss company’s structure and maintain its three annual sales in Basel, Zurich and St Gallen, according to a statement released yesterday (April 18).

“It’s a very special area for an auction house because it’s very different than New York or London, even Paris,” said Nicolas Orlowski, Artcurial’s CEO. The country has far less competition posed by other auction houses like Christie’s or Sotheby’s, he said, adding that it’s also home to a number of great art collectors.

The Swiss auctioneer specializes in modern and contemporary art and was founded in 2011 by Nicolas Beurret and Emmanuel Bailly, later joined by Markus Schob. The three directors will continue working with the auction house, which is scheduled to hold its next fine art sale in June at Art Basel.

Switzerland has an untapped auction market valued at around 700 million ($767 million) annually, according to Orlowski. The country makes up 2 percent of the global art market share with an estimated $1.3 billion, according to the 2023 Art Market Report by Art Basel and UBS, while the U.S. makes up 45 percent at $30.2 billion, followed by the U.K.’s 18 percent and China’s 17 percent.

The auction world is also becoming increasingly upscale, according to a recent Sotheby’s report which linked a hike in $1 million plus artwork sales to a rise in global wealth. The report noted that generations born between 1928 and 1964 are currently transferring an estimated $30 trillion to $68 trillion to their heirs, “in what economics describe as the largest-ever intergenerational wealth transfer.”

Will Artcurial overtake other auctioneers in Europe?

Orlowski purchased Artcurial, at the time a gallery and bookstore, in 2002 from L’Oreal. He turned the company into an auction house with backing from Groupe Dassault, which also owns manufacturer Dassault Aviation and media conglomerate Groupe Figaro.

While Orlowski described his auction house as a “young baby” in comparison to Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Artcurial’s employees have grown from 10 to 600 in the past two decades and achieved a record 216.5 million euros ($237 million) of sales in 2022.

“It’s very difficult for outsiders to find their way when you’re in a duopoly market,” said Orlowski of Sotheby’s and Christie’s. However, he claimed Artcurial is the main competitor for the two auction houses in Europe.

Artcurial also owns John Taylor, a luxury real-estate company; Arqana, an auction house specializing in horses; and Collector Square, a digital platform selling luxury second-hand goods.

The auction house focuses on smaller markets outside fine art in the auction world, including sectors like comics, cars, scarves and street art. Earlier this year, Artcurial sold a 1942 Tintin drawing for $2.3 million, setting a record for the most valuable black and white comic by illustrator Hergé.

“We try to innovate and work on new collector items,” said Orlowski. He recalled when Artcurial first began selling Hermès bags at auction more than a decade ago. “At the time, everyone was saying that we were a little bit crazy,” he said. “If you look at Christie’s and Sotheby’s now, they’re not laughing so much about that.”