Masterpiece for sale: a "Hyères" sculpture by Óscar Domínguez up for auction in Cannes

It is elegant, slender, and delicate, blending surrealism and the sacred. Saint Peter Holding the Key to Paradise , a wrought iron sculpture from 1953, created by one of the masters of surrealism, is being auctioned on August 15 in Cannes.

The work by Óscar Domínguez, labeled lot 287, by Cannes auctioneer Jean-Pierre Besch (Besch Cannes Auction), is estimated at between 6,000 and 8,000 euros . For this specialist, even if Domínguez does not have the aura among neophytes of a Pablo Picasso, he nevertheless has a sure value and is valued by collectors and museums.

Considered one of the last " cursed painters " of Montparnasse , the man born in 1909 on the island of Tenerife, was close to Picasso. The latter also acquired a phonograph signed by his fellow Spaniard Oscar Domínguez to enrich his personal collection.

For the record, the famous phonograph, a surrealist object by Óscar Domínguez, which had caused a sensation in January 1938, during the International Exhibition of Surrealism at the Beaux-Arts gallery in Paris, had disappeared.

At least, until a photograph taken in 1947 in Pablo Picasso's Parisian studio allowed us to trace the happy owner: the painter of Guernica himself, according to the website philosophieetsurréalisme .

For the auctioneer, Óscar Domínguez remains " a sure bet, exhibited at the Guggenheim, bought by art connoisseurs. Certainly, he does not have the same audience among the general public as a Picasso, but like the artists of the 50s to 80s, he arouses the interest of collectors ."

The reason? " The traceability of the work, which, being more contemporary, allows us to know its history. This is much easier than for 17th-century works, where expertise is more complex ," explains the auctioneer in charge of the sale.

This Saint Peter is part of Domínguez's "raisonné" catalogue, that is to say, the artist's officially listed creations.

It will also be accompanied by a certificate from the " Asociación " which will be given to the purchaser.

But then, who owns this sculpture, 2.19 m high and 1.40 m wide, with a depth at the base of 0.77 m, which once overlooked the small Château Saint-Pierre, near the Villa Noailles, now owned by the French government and managed by the Villa Noailles association?

Who is the true owner of the sculpture once located on the right side of the building? Originally, this house called "petit château", was built between 1920 and 1923, for Viscountess Vroomans-Leclercq, a widow of the Great War of Belgian origin according to the Ministry of Culture .

On this hill, facing the Giens peninsula, with an exceptional panorama, this patron financed excavations at the Saint-Pierre church, before creating this monument and wanting to bequeath the whole of her Hyères domain to the commune.

A visionary, she imagined the places to be highlighted. As the ministry indicates, " she inundated the mayor with vehement correspondence in favor of a premonitory vision of cultural tourism, but, isolated, she ended up growing tired of it ."

Abandoned, the ruined house with its Romanesque-style castle battlements and the 4,711 m² derelict property was acquired by another viscountess and her husband, the Noailles. Having taken over the Villa Noailles, the couple sold the site in the 1950s to their friend, the Chilean Tony Gandarillas.

As for the sculpture?

It has almost disappeared from the landscape. " It belongs to a private collector ," says Jean-Pierre Besch. " When the municipality of Hyères bought the building from a private individual, the sculpture was already gone," he says.

Who will become the new owner of Saint-Pierre, holding the key to paradise ? An individual or a community?

The answer will be known on August 15. The auction will begin at 2:30 p.m.