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Among the people invited were the wife of French President Jacques Chirac, Mr and Mrs Bernard Arnault, Mrs Randolph Hearst, Jacques Perrin, one of the main Parisian antique dealers, Philippine de Rothschild, fashion designers and collectors Pierre Cardin and Pierre Bergé, Princess Gloria Thurn und Taxis, former French Premier Laurent Fabius, François Pinault, owner of Christie's and Pierre de Givenchy among others.

The Biennial is like an open-air temporary museum, where many extraordinary pieces of art can be seen. However, high-quality pieces have become scarce on the market and this year many paintings and objects showed there have in fact been bought recently at auction. Previously, exhibitors rather tended to show pieces originating from prestigious collections.

Of course, the Biennial is once again offering visitors some stupendous pieces such as a portrait of a bearded man in red by Rembrandt bought a few months ago by Dutch dealer Noortman for some 12,5 millions dollars, a series of good 17th century paintings and drawings shown by Bob Haboldt, a magnificent painting by Van Dongen representing a woman in Oriental attires as well as a view of Charing Cross Bridge by Monet exhibited by the Parisian gallery Hopkins-Custot, a few interesting small paintings by Georges Seurat, notably by the Bérès gallery, some forceful works by Picasso and Matisse offered for sale by the Krugier Swiss gallery and scores of 18th century French pieces of furniture.

However, visitors have had the feeling that this edition was not of the highest quality despite seeing a magnificent 18th century cylinder desk by Spanish furniture maker José Campos made in 1770 for King Carlos III as well as a German cabinet piece made around 1630 with hard stone panels from Florence offered at $ 3,1 million by the Giovanni and Claire Sarti Gallery from Paris or a painting by Seurat titled “Homage to Puvis de Chavannes” as well as some admirable pieces seen here and there.

Visitors were in fact slightly enthusiastic, lest for a magnificent 12th century of a Virgin and Child made in Central France shown by Bresset from Paris, some extraordinary illuminated manuscripts executed between 1200 and 1500, a few ancient Chinese gold decorated pieces at the Christian Deydier Gallery as well as several tapestries from the 15th and 16th centuries, a Rococo console exhibited by Didier Aaron, a Sierra Leone Mende statue shown by the Ratton-Hourdé gallery and four 18th century porcelain biscuit statuettes representing the Four Seasons attributed to Gaspero Bruschi at the Lefebvre et Fils gallery.

It is a fact that extraordinary pieces have become scarce on the market, which has suffered a lot from the effects of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S, to a lesser extent however than the overall economy since such works have rather gained in value during the past months.

The Paris Biennial has also been somewhat affected by the success of the Maastricht Fair, considered as more interesting in terms of business by many dealers. Still, it remains a marvellous venue for many who hope that the market will soon regain its previous strength. However, the pending economic crisis might well be a handicap hard to overcome in the months to come.