Simon de Pury

Mr. de Pury is one of the art world ’s leading figures, renowned for his deep and long-standing knowledge of the global marketplace.
Regarded as one of the world’s best, and best-known, auctioneers, Mr. de Pury’s ability at the podium is legendary.
He generates excitement in the saleroom, displays great charm and wit, and can conduct sales in four languages – English, French, German and Italian.
Born in Basel in 1951, Mr. de Pury studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tokyo during the 1970s, with an eye toward becoming a fine artist.
After working at the Bern auctioneers Kornfeld & Klipstein and subsequently studying at Sotheby’s Institute, Mr. de Pury joined Sotheby’s, working in London, Geneva and Monte Carlo over the years.
Between 1979 and 1986, he curated the celebrated Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in Lugano.
Simon de Pury then returned to Sotheby’s, first as Chairman of Sotheby’s Switzerland and then as Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, serving as that firm’s star auctioneer.
In the 1990s he conducted all Sotheby’s major sales in Europe, including the Thurn und Taxis sales in Geneva and in Regensburg, the Margrave sales in Baden-Baden and, from 1994, all the major Impressionist sales in New York.
In 1997, with Daniella Luxembourg, Mr. de Pury co-founded de Pury & Luxembourg Art, a Geneva-based art advisory firm.
In 2001 that firm merged with Phillips Auctioneers, which had been acquired in 1999 by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
The combined firm, Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, specializes in Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art, Fine Jewelry, Photography and 20th & 21st Century Decorative Arts.
In 2004 Simon de Pury became the majority shareholder of PHILLIPS, de PURY & COMPANY.