The world financiapocalypse has unsurprisingly screwed the world's fine art market. Christie's just announced layoffs. Art's next (last) hope: February's auction of Yves Saint Laurent's incre-deeb collection. It all comes down to this:

Fashion dude YSL died last summer, and Christie's is set to auction off his whole collection in late February. The dude loved fine art! And if this sale doesn't go well, there's really no hope, because YSL's collection is about as big as it gets. From Reuters, last July:

The auction house declined to estimate how much the collection was likely to fetch until those items had been identified, but experts have put the figure between 300 and 500 million euros, ($472 million-$787 million).

Sources close to Christie's said the figure was "not wrong"

Whoa! But that was before all money in the world burned up. From the IHT, last November:

Labeled the "sale of the century" by Christie's, it will include over 700 lots with an estimated total value of €200 million to €300 million, or $255 million to $380 million.

Lost $400 million before it even started! The collection is ridiculously large and includes Picassos, Matisses, Mondrians, Renaissance-era sculptures and tableware, and fancy furniture, which can at least be burned for warmth. [Pic via]