10 June 2026 | New York | full auction details

This June, Sotheby’s will present Of Form and Color: Art and Design from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection at the Breuer building, offered in a dedicated sale during Design Week in New York. Bringing together a refined ensemble of historic design and contemporary art from Emmanuel de Bayser's residences in Paris and Berlin, the collection reflects a singular vision shaped between two capitals over decades of considered living with art and design.

Installed in his Paris apartment near the Parc Monceau and his residence in Berlin, the collection embodies a distinctive balance between style and comfort that has guided de Bayser's approach to his spaces throughout his life. The two apartments are distinct in character. Paris is meditative and rooted, conceived within the fluid proportions of a Haussmannian interior where high ceilings and interconnected rooms open onto one another like a loft, with no corridors and no wasted space. Berlin is more experimental, a calm refuge from what de Bayser has described as the city's hectic, permanent intensity, where carefully composed vignettes connect rooms and balance objects, textures and color. In both, restrained tones establish a quiet atmosphere, animated by precisely placed moments of form and color that reward sustained, unhurried attention.

Led by an exceptional group of works by Georges Jouve, the collection brings together a focused exploration of postwar French design alongside modern and contemporary art. Works by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand emphasize construction, proportion, and clarity of line, while works by François-Xavier Lalanne and Alberto Giacometti introduce a more sculptural and expressive approach to design. These works are presented in dialogue with a broader selection of postwar and contemporary art, including pieces by Anish Kapoor, Jannis Kounellis, and Günther Förg, among others, extending the collection’s scope and reflecting a vision defined not by period or category, but by a sustained sensitivity to form and color.