PARIS.- The Art World will once again make its way to the Salon du Dessin at the Palais Brongniart in Paris from 21 – 26 March to take a fresh look at the subject of drawing, a sometimes overlooked aspect of art.

Among the highlights on show will be a Gauguin (at around €500,000), a masterpiece by Canaletto (more than €3,500,000) presented by Jean Luc Baroni, and the collection of Theodore Rousseau presented by Jill Newhouse Gallery from NY : 10 works on paper by Theodore Rousseau from a private collection, unseen on the market for many generations. These works include a large black chalk drawing (49 x 64 cm) of circa 1844 that is related to a lost painting Fermes dans Les Landes (1844-47) engraved by Masson, and a very rare pastel of 1855, as well as an early drawing related to the painting Village dans une Vallée (Metropolitan Museum of Art) of circa 1832-34.

The Salon, an international art fair is dedicated to every aspect of drawing and includes Old Master drawings. It is attended by the world’s leading specialists in works on paper. More than 1,000 drawings will be showcased in the prestigious Palais Brongniart. It has become a ‘must-attend’ event for art lovers. Many of the best galleries from Europe and further afield are represented providing wonderful discoveries for art lovers.

The Salon du Dessin is now firmly anchored, not only in Paris but worldwide, as it is the international reference in this field of drawing. Its success is measured by the number of events that flourish both on the market and in institutions as well as the presence of international dealers who this year will occupy more than half the stands at the salon. Five new non-French dealers are joining a total of 39 exhibitors and two are returning after an absence of several years.

CESARE DA SESTO (1477-1523) ONE OF LEONARDO DA VINCI’S MOST FAMOUS PUPILS
The Galerie de Bayser will show a rare preparatory drawing by Cesare da Sesto (1477-1523) one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous pupils. This drawing was made for the painting of Salome, created around 1520 which is now in the collections of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. Very few preparatory drawings by him are known. One showing the hand holding the hair of St. John the Baptist’s head, at Windsor Castle, another showing Salomé’s arm at the Accademia in Venice. A third drawing attributed to him, showing Salome’s foot, is at Berlin. This is an exceptional discovery.

A UNIQUE WORK BY CLAUDE MONET
This india ink work presented by Helene Bailly Gallery is the only work in ink known by Claude Monet. In fact it was created to promote a painting that the artist exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Beaux-arts de Paris of 1865 entitled The Mouth of the River at Honfleur. This drawing corresponds to a key moment in the artist’s career as it marks the start of his public recognition but also that of a promotion campaign for his work which he continued for his entire career.

JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE PRESENTED BY DIDIER AARON
The drawing by Jean-Baptiste Greuze presented by Didier Aaron, comes from a major New York collection and has been lent to major exhibitions on the artist all over the world.

DAVID HOCKNEY PORTRAIT OF ART CRITIC PIERRE RESTANY
One of David Hockney’s favourite themes, for which he is recognized, is portraiture, which he has shown on several occasions in painting and in drawing. In 1974, he made this portrait of Pierre Restany, one of the most brilliant art critics of post war France, founder and “inventor” of New Realism. This drawing, presented by the Galerie des Modernes, a true portrait as object, has used colour to highlight the emblematic accessories of this art critic: his cigar, his ashtray, a glass of red wine and his glasses. It is accompanied by the original manuscript of an interview of July 1974.

ThIs 27th edition of the Salon du Dessin will also host an exhibition of drawings from the Maison Chaumet on the tiara, showing that artist’s drawings are an essential stage for this major jeweller.

Other major events at the Salon du Dessin, are a lecture by Olivier Meslay on the drawings of the Clark Art Institute, the famous American institution of which he has been director since 2016 and the presentation of the Contemporary Drawing Prize of the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation.