On Saturday, May 13, 2017, the City of Paris organized an auction of the love locks from the Pont des Arts and the Pont de l’Archevêché.
IESA arts&culture was a partner of this charity sale benefiting the reception and support of refugees. Students in the Bachelor in Art Expertise and Trade, Master in Old Master Art and Contemporary Art and Professional Master in Art Market coordinated the entire sale. A look back at this event.
Love locks, a powerful symbol
The City of Paris chose the Crédit Municipal as the venue for the sale because it is a public institution. The exhibition preceding the sale was held in the Crédit Municipal gallery. Media coverage of this event was international, with many foreign media outlets present at the opening as well as numerous bloggers.
Many foreign tourists attended this auction. Love locks are a representative symbol of Paris throughout the world.
The sale was conducted under the gavel of auctioneer Maître Collin du Bocage, and all the proceeds were donated to three associations helping refugees in France: SOLIPAM (for pregnant women or mothers with infants), L’ARMÉE DU SALUT and EMMAUS.
The sale began at 15:00; it was also online on the Interenchères website so that foreign buyers could bid on the love locks.
The auction comprised 165 lots:
- 150 clusters of padlocks (1/3 mounted on plexiglass, 1/3 recycled parquet, 1/3 mounted on Paris paving stones) whose metal shackles were made by the Hector Guimard vocational high school (Paris 19th)
- 15 Pont des Arts grilles weighing from 270 to over 600 kg
One of the 15 gates will go to the Musée Carnavalet; the others were sold, half in the room and half online, mostly to French buyers. In the room, some 150 people were physically present and many foreigners were connected to the live stream. Most of the foreign buyers were English speakers: Americans, Australians and Canadians.
In the room, the profile of the buyers was varied: mostly auction novices, professionals (gallery owners), lovers of Paris and people nostalgic for the padlocks on the Pont des Arts.
The Different Love Padlock Lots
The lot that received the most bids is the 2.26-meter gate, which went for €17,000; the cheapest lot still went for €4,800. The most expensive padlock, with an Eiffel Tower locked inside, went for €2,800.
The biggest difficulty for the Art Market students in this auction was the weight of the works, especially for foreign buyers, who had to pay extra for shipping.
In all, €250,000 was raised for charities.
Love Locks in Pictures
