Forty paintings belonging to Alain Delon were to hit the auction blocks on Monday.
Experts expected the French actor's paintings, mostly abstract works dating from the 1950s, to fetch between $6.5 and $8.8 million at the Cornette de Saint Cyr aution house.
The auction was expected to include works by French painters Nicolas de Stael, noted for his heavily textured abstract landscapes, and Pierre Soulages, who favored the color black.
Stael's abstract "Still Life with a Saucepan" was expected to go for $711,000 to $995,000. A painting by Soulages featuring black trees was estimated at $427,000 to $569,000.
The 72-year-old Delon acquired many of the paintings in the 1980s.
Known for his dashing good looks, he jumped to international fame in the 1960s with films such as Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers."
Forty paintings belonging to Alain Delon were to hit the auction blocks on Monday. 
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