Surrealist's art collection fetches £32m

After two weeks of turbulent auctions - inevitably described as surrealist - the sale of André Breton's personal art collection has fetched €46m (£31.8m), twice the pre-sale estimate.

The auctions, which went on late into the night to accommodate telephone bidders from the US, were disturbed by opponents of the state's refusal to buy Breton's rented flat near Pigalle, in the north of Paris, where the surrealist manifesto was drawn up in 1924.

Since the poet's death in 1966, at the age of 70, the flat has been preserved along with thousands of artworks, photographs, a collection of primitive art and personal souvenirs.

Led by intellectuals including the philosopher Jacques Derrida, protesters disturbed some of the sales to campaign for state intervention. Even without their presence the event was often chaotic.

More than 50,000 people viewed the 6,249 lots while hundreds of spectators packed the saleroom during the 21 sessions. Bidding was often wild, with records set for paintings by Magritte, Miro and Arp and several others when state museums stepped in to outbid private buyers.

The most contested part of the sale was a collection of photographs by Man Ray and lesser known photographers.

One specialist collector, Jean-Claude Vrain, was outbid 100 times by museums which spent nearly €12m to cream off the best items.

Mr Vrain said: "I am angry because the state ignored objects connected with Breton's political activities as a faithful, anti-Stalinist Trotskyist."

The biggest official buyers were the Jacques Doucet Museum in Paris, where Breton left his personal letters, and the National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou centre, which had previously acquired some of Breton's artefacts as part of death duties.

Marcel Fleiss, the leading dealer in Breton mem orabilia, said the auction had resurrected interest in the surrealist movement and given long-delayed recognition to neglected artists.

He said: "Breton's magic has done what I haven't been able to do in 30 years.

"I have been selling 90% of these artists all that time and even in my dreams I could never sell them at these prices."

The star of the sale was a portrait of Breton by Victor Brauner which, at €180,000, fetched five times its reserve price. The painting will be exhibited at the City of Paris Modern Art Museum.

Breton's daughter, Aube Elléoüet-Breton, decided to sell her father's collection two years after the death of his widow, Elisa.