1929: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchases the Grand Salon of the Hôtel de la Bouexière

Though comfortably ensconced now at Mia, the Grand Salon of the Hôtel de la Bouexière wandered on its way to Minneapolis, a journey as complex and intriguing as the decor itself. In the late 1920s, Gaillard's mansion was divvied up by the Parisian art and architecture dealers Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Company, who sold off several paneled rooms—including this one—to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, for a record sum. One week later, the stock market crash of 1929 precipitated the Great Depression, and the room languished in storage through fires, water damage, and bug infestations.