“I carry with me a multitude of personal memories of the Ritz and I am delighted to be a part of this event-auction, staging objects that are familiar to me and that I love.”

Artcurial: What does the Ritz represent to you ?

Vincent Darré: For me, the Ritz is the quintessential luxury hotel, a Parisian symbol as emblematic as the Eiffel Tower. With the Ritz, we are verging on the legend, we enter into the Palace of French taste, with all its historical references. It represents the Versailles of the Hotel world. It represents Parisian chic.

My memories at the Ritz stack up like postcards in my mind: from lunches during Fashion Week to uncontrollable fits of laughter in a suite with an eccentric countess, or walking down the stairs leading to the swimming pool with my friend Arielle Dombasle, wearing gold platform shoes!

If I close my eyes, in a blink I can relive the flash popping away during a Mario Testino shoot for Vogue. Of course, Karl Lagerfeld remains, with Chanel, the fashion symbol forever intertwined with a hotel. But even more, I think back to the black and white and Technicolor films of the 1950’s which marked my childhood, such as Funny Face. The Ritz is the mirror onto Parisian life, projected onto the Silver Screen.

Artcurial: Staging an auction including more than 10 000 pieces, separated into 3 500 lots, all of them selected from successive Ritz redecorations is quite an uncommon project for an interior designer, is it not?

Vincent Darré: When Artcurial came to me with the project the first time, I immediately jumped for joy! I love bold and unusual projects. My brain then went into full steam ahead mode!

I examine each project as I would a film script, my imagination will then go at full speed, in a sort of travelling shot of the entire project.

For this 5-day exhibition, I followed a clear image: to transform Artcurial’s Parisian private mansion into an imaginary decor, a film set recounting the history of the Ritz through the memory of actors who have marked the hotel. I want visitors to feel as if they are entering into a movie. After all, Artcurial came to me to create a décor!

Artcurial: On that point, how did your discovery of the pieces go?

How did you make your selection?

Vincent Darré: During my first visit in the storage warehouse, everything had already been inventoried, classified, stored. It was extraordinary, a gigantic labyrinth of furniture. I had the impression of being in Citizen Kane’s warehouse, I was expecting Orson Welles to pop out from behind a crate!

My favourite pieces are the four-poster beds, the small brocade ottomans, and Regency style lanterns. But oddly enough, I have the impression that the old signs most symbolise the Ritz; they are extremely touching.

Of course, I am crazy about the gilt wood Louis XVI style beds, the display case gallery, the leather sofas from the bar, the marble baroque consoles, the infinite collection of curtains and the inexhaustible glittering of the chandeliers.

However, if I had to bid in next April’s auction, I would hope to bring home with me the Louis XVI style dog bed, which seems to have belonged to the Windsors.

Artcurial: The Ritz is also about its guests. What would you like to say to them, when they open up the auction catalogue?

Vincent Darré: When guests receive the catalogue, I hope that when perusing through the pages, they will look at it as they would a souvenir album of a trip to place Vendôme.

Informations

Touring exhibition in Europe:
Vienna, Austria: 16-23 March 2018.
Milan, Italy: 20-25 March 2018.
Munich, Germany: 22-24 March 2018.

In Paris,

Auction in Paris: 17-21 April 2018

Exhibition set up by Vincent Darré in Paris: 12-16 April 2018

View Auction Catalogue

To order a printed catalogue: gdemortemart@artcurial.com

To register to bid in our auction: bids@artcurial.com

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Carine Decroi