At the Musée Picasso, Drouot Inventories Sophie Calle’s Life

Auctioneer and Drouot Patrimoine president Alexandre Giquello and OVV Drouot Estimations president Philippe Ancelin scoured every nook and cranny of Sophie Calle’s house-studio identifying, inventorying and describing anything worth selling at auction before clearing out the house. But the operation did not take place within the usual framework of an estate sale. This is the first time that the prestigious Paris auction house, founded in 1852, has ever participated in an exhibition in a national museum with a world famous artist. “Laurent Le Bon put me in touch with Sophie Calle when he was still president of the musée Picasso,” Mr. Giquello recalls. “That’s how Drouot came to occupy the two rooms in Ms. Calle’s exhibition commemorating the 50 th anniversary of Picasso’s death.” The idea of giving the auction house free reign stemmed from an incident that left an impression on the artist. “In 2017,” she says, “I went to Drouot for the auction of works owned by Jean Lafont, with whom I…