The Price of Desire: Cheska Vallois and the Legendary Dragons Armchair

The auction room at Christie’s Paris was electric. Seasoned collectors and deep-pocketed bidders held their breath as the battle for a single masterpiece unfolded – Eileen Gray’s legendary Dragons armchair.

The piece had already become mythic, not just for its sinuous lacquered curves and sculptural presence, but for its incredible provenance. Decades earlier, in 1971, a young Parisian art dealer named Cheska Vallois had stumbled upon the chair, its significance not yet fully recognised, and acquired it for a mere $2,700. Two years later, she had sold it to one of the greatest collectors of the era – Yves Saint Laurent.

For decades, the chair sat in the designer’s Parisian apartment, a quiet yet powerful statement of radical design. But now, in March 2009, Vallois was back in the same game, armed with a mission – and an unlimited budget.

A Bidding War for the Ages

The pre-sale estimate had been €2-3 million – a respectable sum for a design masterpiece. But as the bidding opened, it became clear that the room was filled with sharks, not collectors. Paddle after paddle was raised, pushing the price higher, past five million, past ten. Vallois sat still, waiting, knowing exactly when to strike. When the price reached €15 million, some gasped, others leaned in, unable to look away. Then, a final, decisive bid from Vallois: €21,905,000. The gavel fell.

Stunned silence filled the room. The Dragons armchair had just become the most expensive piece of 20th-century design ever sold. And the buyer? Cheska Vallois – again.

The Price of Desire

Speculation ran wild. Who was Vallois buying for? The media quickly latched onto the billionaire power couple Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, but this was a mistake. The real buyer remained shrouded in mystery. Later, when asked about the staggering sum, Vallois responded with a simple, enigmatic phrase:

“It was the price of desire.”

Was she referring to the sheer will to own the piece? The lure of its history? Or the cyclical nature of art, where objects pass through hands, their value shaped by time and context? Only Vallois knew for sure.

The Dragons armchair, once a $2,700 discovery, had ascended to the realm of legends. And Vallois had not just witnessed its journey – she had shaped it, bought it, sold it, and then, against all odds, brought it home again. A chair, a fortune, and a phrase that echoed long after the auctioneer’s hammer fell: The price of desire.