Paul Nyzam is the Head of Evening Sale and Specialist for Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s Paris, and since 2016, he has become the Co-Head for the Paris Avant-Garde sale, held annually during FIAC week.

Paul is responsible for the sale of many distinguished private collections in Paris, including amongst others that of the Jean-François and Marie-Aline Prat collection in 2017, which until now still holds the auction record for a private post-war and contemporary art collection ever sold in France (€39m). The auction also saw Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Jim Crow achieve a record price in France for the year (€15m).

Paul secured the consignment of Pierre Soulages’ Peinture 186 x 143 cm, 23 décembre 1959 (US$10.6m), setting a world record for the artist and for a French living artist, and he was instrumental in selling Nicolas de Staël’s Grand nu debout (US12.1m) – a record price for the artist. Both successes achieved in 2018.

Paul holds a Master’s degree from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and HEC Paris.

Antoine Lebouteiller is the Head of the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Christie’s France.

Antoine first joined Christie’s in 2009 in Paris, and has worked since 2013 at the London office as a Specialist for the Day and Works on Paper sales and later as Director and Senior Specialist for the Evening Sale. In December 2018, he rejoined the Paris team, leading the Avant-Garde and Works on Paper Sales.

Antoine worked closely with Deputy Chairman Olivier Camu on the Art of the Surreal evening auctions and was instrumental in the record-breaking sale of the Claudel bronze group in June 2018. Furthermore, he played a seminal role for many acquisitions by major international institutions, including an important Paul Gauguin ceramic acquired by the Musée d’Orsay during the October 2018 Unbreakable sale, of which he was the Impressionist lead.

Renato Pennisi is a Director and Senior Specialist of Christie’s global 20/21 Century Team for Modern and Contemporary Art, based in Italy. He joined Christie’s in 2001 and signed responsible as Co-Head for Christie’s Milan auctions as of 2007.

In 2013, Renato launched a new sale format Milan Modern and Contemporary, a monographic sale focusing on the most desirable Italian artists, acclaimed alike by existing and new clients with sell through rates achieving over 90% by lot, even up to 100% result in 2015 and 2018.

In his capacity as international Specialist, Renato has achieved some exceptional auction results for Italian artists in- as well as outside of Italy. Amongst them Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese sold in March 2018 for £8,671,250; and in October 2018 Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio, dating from 1963 for £16,282,823, still the third highest price for the artist, Piero Manzoni’s Achrome from 1958 which sold in April 2018 for €2,970,000, still the highest price achieved for the artist in Italy), Emilio Vedova’s Cicio61/62 no. 2 sold in November 2008 for €731,600, an unbeaten artist auction record price lasting nearly for two decades, as well as Giorgio Morandi’s Natura Morta, 1939 sold in October 2015 for £2,546,500, still the second highest price at auction for the artist, and Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer, sold in May 2017 $51,767,500. In 2021 Renato was instrumental for the consignment of the Collection Gerard Valkier : A lifetime journey with Art, which held many works by Italian 20/21century artists and totaled €6,572,250. A few months later in the same year, Renato signed responsible for the single owner sale Thousand Roads: A Private Collection in Rome which sold in Amsterdam and London and during the first edition of Thinking Italian in Paris in 2022, his Alighiero Boetti pink Mappa, 1979-1980 consignment set the then new world auction record for the artist, when selling for €5.6 million, doubling its mid-estimate.

Mariolina Bassetti became Head of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department in Italy in 1995, having joined the Christie's Rome office in 1987.

Under her direction, Christie's Italy’s Modern and Contemporary Art sales have grown from €1 million to €16 million. Since its launch in 1999, Mariolina has been in charge of the Italian Sale, the annual and only international auction dedicated entirely to Italian 20th Century art, held at Christie's London. On 14 October 2010 the Italian Sale achieved a new record total of £18,627,650 (€21,142,383), making Christie’s market leaders for this category. Since May 2005, Christie's Italy has held the record for the most expensive work of modern art sold in Italy, with Arturo Martini’s sculpture Donna che nuota sott’acqua, which achieved €2.2 million in Milan. In February 2007 Christie's sold the Tettamanti collection at the King Street saleroom in London. It is considered to be the most important Italian post-war and contemporary art private collection ever sold at auction.

In 2011 she became Chairman of Christie's Italy, in addition to her previous role of International Director in the Post-War & Contemporary Art department. In April 2013 Mariolina became a member of the Global Executive Committee, formulating strategic departmental plans and leading client initiatives in this key collecting area of Europe.

An Italian national, Mariolina is fluent in Italian, French, Spanish and English.

After graduating from La Sorbonne in History of Art, Sonja Ganne started her career in the famous François Laffanour – Galerie Downtown. Building on her seven years of experience, she joined Christie’s London in 1997 before coming to Paris in 1998 to create the 20th century decorative art and design department. She launched the first sales in Paris, which fetched world record prices and attracted new French and international collectors.

Sonja Ganne also played a key role in the success of the sale of three major works of art by Rembrandt Bugatti in 2011 (€2,400,000) as well as leading various important sales and developing the department significantly: in 2013 Christie’s sold six unique works of art by Armand Rateau from the apartments of the Duke and Duchess of Alba (€4,500,000).

Valérie Didier is a Specialist and Head of Sale at the Impressionist and Modern Art department, based in Paris. She began her career at Christie's in 2005. Prior to her current position, Valérie has worked in London in the Collections department and Impressionist and Modern Art department, as well as the Russian Art department in Paris, before becoming the Business Director at the Christie's Dubai office. She oversaw the bi-annual sales of Middle Eastern Modern and Contemporary Art and Important Watches for over eight years.

Under Valérie’s leadership, the two Parisian spotlight sales Art Moderne and Art Impressionniste et Moderne have consistently achieved strong sell-through rates of over 80% by lot and by value. One of her most remarkable successes included the white-glove sale of the Hessel collection of Bonnard and Vuillard paintings in 2018, selling 100% by lot and exceeding its pre-sale high estimate to make a total of over €5.3 million. Valérie was also responsible for the record price for a work by Jeanne Hébuterne (€478,000 sold in March 2019, nearly eight times its pre-sale low estimate) and the 1889 self-portrait by Emile Bernard, acquired by the Musée d’Orsay in October 2019 (sold for €778,000, almost double its pre-sale low estimate).

In December 2016, Valérie co-authored with Alexandrian collector Dr. Hussam Rashwan the first catalogue raisonné on any artist from the Middle East, the founder of Modern Egyptian Art, Mahmoud Saïd (1897–¬1964), published by SKIRA. Due to her mutli-cultural upbringing, Valérie speaks fluently English, French and Italian. She also has an intermediate level in German and is currently learning Arabic.

Laëtitia Bauduin de la Brosse began her career in the Maître Briest and Poulain-Le-Fur auction houses. When she joined Christie’s in 2006 she brought with her a wealth of experience in Post-War and Contemporary Art. As Head of Sale under the international supervision of Florence de Botton, she ensures Christie’s sales stand out in the global market for this category.

She contributed significantly to the exponential growth of this department’s results in Paris including the exceptional sale of December 2012 (€18,400,000) which featured a rare Araignée by Louise Bourgeois (€3,400,000). She also was instrumental to the success of the June 2013 auction (€19,600,000), with a global record for an artwork by the artist Kazuo Shiraga, Chiretsusei Katsusemba (€1,650,000).

Prior to joining Christie’s Paris in 2013, Flavien Gaillard was a Design dealer, with an experience of organising two exhibitions dedicated to 1960s French designers Max Sauze and Jean-Louis Avril. Flavien’s expertise lies in developing French design from 1950s and onwards.

In his role as Director of Design, he is searching for furniture from great designers from the post-war period, including Jean Prouvé, Alexandre Noll, Charlotte Perriand, and Jean Royère. In 2017, he organised the sale Tribute to Jean Royère, where he sold a pair of armchairs Ours polaire at a world record of €847,500. In 2018, Flavien was in charge of the Georges Jouve family collection, which became the biggest collection ever sold at an auction, totalling over €1,000,000. In November 2019, Flavien presented a never-before-seen commission by Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, with unique pieces untouched since 1951. Alongside this collection, a beautiful bookcase Tunisie by Charlotte Perriand sold for €225,000.

After an Art Business Management master degree at Paris Dauphine University, Josephine first joined Christie’s Paris Post War & Contemporary art team in 2016 as a cataloguer and contributed to the great success of Claude Berri Collection sale (October 2016), achieving €8,320,125.

From 2017, Josephine started overseeing cataloguing for both Paris and Milan PWC sales. Among many other sales, she was also involved in the cataloguing, exhibition setting and success of the Jean-François and Marie-Aline Prat Collection sale in 2017, which until now still holds the auction record for a private Post War and Contemporary art collection ever sold in France (€39m).

In 2019, she was appointed Junior Specialist, and more recently Josephine has taken on the role of Head of Day sale. In her position, she is responsible for business getting and managing all aspects of the sale: pricing, curating and overseeing cataloguing.

Elena Zaccarelli is a Senior Specialist in the Modern and Contemporary Art Department at Christie’s in Milan, and she is responsible for the 20th/21st Century: Milan Sales.

Elena joined Christie’s in 2010, dealing with international teams of Impressionist and Modern and Post-War and Contemporary Art, being formerly a sale coordinator, cataloguer, junior specialist in the same department. She is now gathering for Milan and international auctions, focusing on italian art. She has curated the sale of the “Next Chapter” Collection throughout London and New York in 2017 and played a key role in major consignments for New York Sales.

Before she joined Christie’s, Elena studied History of Art at Università degli Studi di Bologna and worked in various art galleries in Florence. An Italian national, Elena is fluent in Italian and English.