Personal possessions of late actress Brigitte Bardot – from Repetto ballet flats and diamond rings to her copy of the Kama Sutra – are being sold at auction on Monday with proceeds going to her animal charity.
Fans of the iconic figure, who died last December at the age of 91, have been coming en masse to contemplate the nearly 300 lots on display at the Drouot sale rooms in central Paris.
The items are from Bardot’s two homes in Saint-Tropez, as well as her Paris flat, parts of which are recreated in the display.
“Each item on sale bears the trace of an encounter, an involvement, a moment of happiness, a stage of her life. They tell the story of the woman as well as the legend,” said her secretary for many years, Frank Guillou.
Bardot is seen today as one of the most important female personalities of the late 20th century. As a model and actress from the 1950s, she became an emblem of modern femininity and the sexual revolution before later taking up the cause of animal rights.
But later in life she was also criticised for making homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred.
Monday’s auction is a chance to acquire everyday objects that were once her intimate belongings. Along with furniture, clothing and religious statuary, kitchen utensils, Le Creuset pans and cigarette lighters are on offer.
Other highlights include the manual typewriter she used to write her correspondence and autobiography, jewellery, and classical guitars.
Her Peugeot bicycle is on sale, as are two pairs of leather Repetto ballet flats. A trained ballerina, Bardot helped popularise the Repetto brand after asking the company to make her a version for everyday use.
The sale also features a large selection of portraits of the star, some erotic.
“Brigitte used to say that she didn’t want to have to look at her mug all day, so they weren’t up on the walls – but she did keep them, either because she knew the artists or because the pictures meant something to her. They were all gifts,” said Guillou.
Most lots have starting prices of under €100 (£86), but bidding is expected to push these up considerably, according to Cecile Dupuis of the auction house Millon, which is running the sale.
“[The sale] is for all those people who still live with her memory and who keep her cause alive. They are animal lovers and Brigitte Bardot lovers at the same time. The room will be full of all these fans,” she said.
Many items on sale reveal her adoration of animals, including a large selection of cuddly toys and collars that belonged to her dogs.
“Brigitte could not live without animals around her. When one of them died, she was totally wiped out with grief. They were all buried according to a strict protocol in the gardens, and their photographs had pride of place in her homes,” said Guillou.
When she died in December, Bardot’s estate was divided between her Foundation and her only son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier – who also benefits from the sale.
Bardot’s widower called the planned auction “a joke”.
“Why hold this sale? For the animals? That’s a joke; the foundation owns buildings, it should just sell one of them,” Bernard d’Ormale told local French newspaper the Midi Libre.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation said the auction was approved by the board in June, including by Bardot’s widower, who was then its president.
