Sotheby’s is preparing to put nearly $150 million of art on display in a private Paris apartment during Art Basel Paris week, using a residential setting, restaurant service and invitation-style hospitality to expand its private-sales business beyond the traditional auction room. The temporary project, called “Chez Sotheby’s,” is scheduled to run from Oct. 19 through Oct. 24 in an apartment on Rue de Rivoli overlooking the Jardin des Tuileries.

The exhibition will place major works by modern and contemporary artists in a domestic environment rather than the white-wall setting usually associated with galleries and auction previews. Artists represented in the announced lineup include Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Francis Bacon and Alexander Calder. Sotheby’s is also expected to show works by Wayne Thiebaud, George Condo and Lucio Fontana, with the full inventory to be disclosed later.

Among the works identified in reporting on the project are Thiebaud’s “Sucker Tree,” Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild (908-8),” Condo’s “The Day They All Got Out,” Fontana’s “Concetto Spaziale, Attese” and Picasso’s “Deux nus couchés.” A dedicated presentation of Calder sculptures and works on paper is also planned. The works are being offered through private sale rather than through a timed or live auction, meaning transactions can be negotiated directly between Sotheby’s and prospective buyers.

The project arrives as Paris prepares for one of its most concentrated periods of international art-market activity. Art Basel Paris will hold its fifth edition at the Grand Palais from Oct. 23 through Oct. 25, with preview days on Oct. 21 and 22 and an invitation-only Avant-Première on Oct. 20. Sotheby’s event therefore begins before the fair’s main preview period and continues through its opening public days, positioning the auction house to meet collectors already traveling to the city.

Art Basel has said the 2026 Paris edition will bring together 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories, with nearly 30 participating for the first time. More than 60 exhibitors operate gallery spaces in France, while participating galleries also come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea and other major art markets. The fair is being held for the first time under director Karim Crippa.

For the U.S. art world, the overlap is notable. American galleries are part of the Art Basel Paris roster, and several artists in the Sotheby’s presentation occupy important positions in the U.S. secondary market. Warhol remains a central figure in postwar American collecting, while Thiebaud and Condo connect the presentation to later generations of U.S. painting. Sotheby’s also maintains one of its largest global operations in New York, giving the Paris project relevance to American collectors and advisers accustomed to transatlantic buying.

Chez Sotheby’s has been developed with _POLIMENO, the art advisory and curatorial platform founded by Valerio Polimeno. Rather than treating hospitality as an addition to a conventional sales exhibition, organizers are making it part of the viewing experience. The apartment will include a dining space designed by architect Tarek Shamma, while chef Erika Blu of Atelier Renata is expected to provide a menu drawing on Italian dishes and French desserts. Colin Field, formerly associated with the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Paris, is handling the drinks program.

The space is expected to operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during its Oct. 19-24 run. Visitors will be able to view the art and stop for coffee or cocktails, while a limited number of lunch tables will be offered at 1 p.m. by reservation. The precise Rue de Rivoli address is being provided on request, reinforcing the project’s combination of an exhibition, private client salon and social venue.

That structure reflects a broader distinction between private sales and auctions. In a public auction, buyers compete against one another and prices emerge through bidding under published sale conditions. Private sales allow a house to connect an owner and prospective buyer away from the auction calendar, often giving both sides greater control over timing and discretion. By assembling multiple privately available works into a major curated presentation, Sotheby’s can create an event around inventory that otherwise might be shown to clients individually.

The scale of the Paris presentation also underlines the continuing competition for business at the top of the international market. High-value collectors can increasingly encounter works through fairs, galleries, advisers, auction houses and private transactions during the same trip. A residential exhibition gives Sotheby’s another way to hold those clients’ attention during a week when dealers and institutions across Paris are competing for meetings, visits and purchases.

Paris has strengthened its position within that competition. Art Basel said in May that French art-market sales reached $4.5 billion in 2025, up 9% from the previous year. The organization put France at 8% of global art-market sales and described it as the world’s fourth-largest national market and the largest within the European Union. The concentration of fairs, galleries, auction houses and museum programming around October has made the city particularly important for cross-border collectors.

The Sotheby’s project is therefore as much about the selling environment as the headline value of the works. Placing a Picasso, Richter or Warhol in rooms designed to resemble the surroundings in which collectors might ultimately live with the art changes the presentation from a transactional preview into something closer to a temporary private collection. Meals and drinks create additional time for conversations with specialists, advisers and other visitors without the fixed schedule of a traditional auction.

Whether the approach produces sales approaching the exhibition’s nearly $150 million valuation will not necessarily be visible immediately. Private transactions are often disclosed selectively, and prices can remain confidential. But the investment in Chez Sotheby’s demonstrates the importance Sotheby’s is placing on private sales and on Paris as a meeting point for international collectors. During an Art Basel week already built around concentrated access to galleries and artists, Sotheby’s is betting that a more domestic setting can distinguish its own offering from the activity inside the Grand Palais.