'A Chaser Of Masterpieces': Inside the World Of Robert Schmit

M y gallery in Paris is the centre of a gigantic spider's web where I catch my flies, except that they are called Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir...". An insatiable chaser of masterpieces, these are the wry words with which Robert Schmit described his profession and passion for art, in a 1985 interview with Paris Match.

Eminent specialist of 19th and 20th century painting, Robert Schmit (1920-2008) was introduced to art by a friend of his father Jean, furniture maker and dealer in Old Master paintings. But after graduating from business school, nothing predestined him for a career as a gallery owner. On the contrary, as he confided to Jean-Louis Ferrier in an interview for Le Point in 1985, "as a child, I hated paintings. When my teacher took me to the Louvre, I would hide behind the statues to lose her. But from the age of 15 or 16, I began to be interested in the profession."

Like his father a few years earlier, art expert Paul Antonini mentored the younger Schmit's evolution to celebrated gallerist. But unlike his father, Robert gravitated towards Old Masters and the Impressionists. He loved their use of light and their freer "palette [which] makes the colours burst into shimmer and movement". Before establishing his gallery, he travelled throughout France and then internationaly, meeting collectors, intermediaries, museum directors, restorers and anyone who could help him acquire exceptional works. From 1955 (the year of his marriage), he was accompanied by his wife Nadine, (née Lambiotte). The granddaughter and daughter of famous collectors, she shared her husband's quest for beauty and accompanied him on most of his trips. "What delights the thought of these peregrinations with you!" Robert Schmit had rather grandly promised her, whilst they were still only engaged.

In 1964 he established the Galerie Robert Schmit at 392-396 rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, quickly becoming one of the most important in Paris. Commentators at the time praised this new "museum in a private gallery on three floors", one calling it a "…rare place where miracles could happen... [with] Degas and Monets as we usually see only in museums, sensitive and delectable Boudins, furtive and silky Fantin-Latours, [...], Sisleys and Corots in dialogue as equals with delicate Lépines or magical Redons...".

These critical raptures greeted an expansive series of exhibitions, packed with strong pieces by Impressionist and Modern artists. From Monet to Picasso, Cézanne to Staël, "…an accumulation of masterpieces that was completely unexpected outside the official circuits" as critic Jean-Louis Ferrier out it. Robert Schmit established a bridge between the great masters of the second half of the 19th century, who presaged the titans of Impressionism and related schools. A much-valued voice of discerning taste, Schmit became a renowned arbiter for collectors worldwide, many of the paintings he sold still in collections of museums the world over.

Schmit published several catalogues raisonnés, the first being dedicated to Eugène Boudin, the" king of skies" and Schmit's favorite artist, who he ranked equal to Pissarro or a Sisley. In fact, the first exhibition ever held at Galerie Robery Schmit in 1965, was entirely dedicated to Boudin and Schmit would go on to promote the artist worldwide, for many years. And these books clearly were important to Schmit - as well as running his gallery, he would, over time, produce catalogues raisonnés for Stanislas Lépine and René Princeteau, the master of Toulouse-Lautrec, and edit a volume on André Derain.

Unusually for a private gallery, Robert Schmit was often called upon by museums around the world to collaborate on major exhibitions. In Paris, he worked with the Louvre, in London at the National and Tate Gallery, in Washington at the National Gallery of Art, as well as collaborations in Munich, Tokyo, Zurich and many other places.

The second session of Sotheby's sale of the Monsieur and Madame Robert Schmit Collection will once again present works of the highest quality. It will delight connoisseurs with paintings by Eugène Boudin, views of Rouen, Le Havre, Dordrecht, Antwerp, as well as exciting impressions of the Brittany coast. The collection also presents a rare and poignant winter scene painted by Gustave Courbet in 1866; a still life and an enigmatic portrait by Odilon Redon as well as works by impressionist, post-impressionist and modern masters such as a nude and a red chalk by Auguste Renoir, landscapes by Maurice Utrillo, a drawing by Paul Gauguin and an ink by Toulouse Lautrec, oils and pastels by Princeteau, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, André Derain, Charles Camoin, Edouard Vuillard and Jacques Villon among others.

The second session of this remarkable collection continues the tribute to the discrete and erudite couple of connoisseurs that were Nadine and Robert Schmit.

Past Auction

Collection Monsieur et Madame Robert Schmit, Part II

24 March 2022 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris