Hôtel Drouot

It consists of 16 halls hosting 70 independent auction firms, which operate under the umbrella grouping of Drouot.

[1] Details of forthcoming auctions are published in the weekly Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot, sold at newsstands and by subscription.

[2] In 2008 Hôtel Drouot was ranked fifth by sales amongst Paris auction houses, after Sotheby's, Christie's, Artcurial, and Ader-Picard-Tajan.

During World War II and the German occupation of France, a large number of artworks from collections that had been owned by Jews passed through Drouot, which was as a result included on the Art Looting Investigation Unit list of Red Flag names.

In 2000, reform of the monopolistic French auction laws, regulated through the system of commissaires-priseurs, opened Drouot up to international competition.

Hôtel Drouot in 1852
"An Auction at the Hotel Drouot" by Albert Bettannier .
Frontispiece for a significant auction held at Drouot in May 1914, showing lot 8, Auguste Renoir , Baigneuse , 1895, 80 x 65 cm, similar to Baigneuse aux cheveux longs , Musée de l'Orangerie , Paris