Pierre Bergé

Pierre Bergé (Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, November 14, 1930 – Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, September 8, 2017) was a French industrialist, patron of the arts, publisher, and activist, best known for his partnership with designer Yves Saint Laurent, with whom he co-founded the eponymous fashion house.

Biography

His mother was an amateur soprano and Montessori teacher, and his father a tax inspector and rugby enthusiast. Bergé attended Lycée Eugène Fromentin in La Rochelle and later in Paris.

On his first day in Paris, while walking along the Champs-Élysées, the poet Jacques Prévert fell on him in a suicide attempt. At that time he met and socialized with writers and artists such as Pierre Mac Orlan, Jean Cocteau, Louis Aragon, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, André Breton, and in 1950 he met painter Bernard Buffet, with whom he lived for eight years. He also formed a close relationship with author Jean Giono and co-founded the libertarian newspaper Patrie Mondiale with American pacifist Garry Davis.

Bergé met Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. Together they launched the Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961. They separated in 1976 but remained friends and business partners.

Days before Saint Laurent’s death in 2008, the two entered into a civil union (PACS). After the couture house closed, Bergé was appointed president of the Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.

From 1977 to 1981 he managed the Théâtre de l'Athénée, producing works by Peter Shaffer, Antoine Vitez, Claude Régy, Marguerite Duras, Peter Brook, Robert Wilson, John Cage, and Philip Glass. A close friend and supporter of President François Mitterrand, Bergé was appointed chairman of the Opéra de la Bastille in 1988 and served until 1994. He chaired the Musical Mahler Library and led the Jean Cocteau Committee for the artist’s estate.

An LGBT rights and AIDS activist, in 1994 he co-founded Sidaction with Line Renaud. He served as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and in 2007 supported Ségolène Royal’s presidential bid.

Bergé and Saint Laurent amassed a major art collection—including works by Brancusi, Picasso, Goya, Cézanne, Ensor, Mondrian, Warhol, Braque, and Matisse—which they auctioned in February 2009 for over €300 million, proceeds dedicated to AIDS research. They owned a small hôtel on rue de Babylone, Château Gabriel in Deauville, and the Villa and Garden Majorelle in Marrakech.

In 2010 he narrated the documentary *Yves Saint Laurent – Pierre Bergé, L’Amour Fou* by Pierre Thorrenton. He directed and financed the LGBT magazine *Têtu* and served as honorary patron of the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation and the University of Avignon.

Honors

• Order of Orange-Nassau
• National Order of Merit (France)
• Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters
• Legion of Honour
• UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador (1993)
• Grand Patron of Arts and Culture (2001)
• Candidate for the French Academy

Publications

• *Liberté, j'écris ton nom* (1991)
• *Inventaire Mitterrand* (2001)
• *Théâtre du Châtelet: A Permanent Festival (1999–2006)* (2006)
• *Album Cocteau* (2006)
• *The Art of the Preface* (2008)
• *History of Our Collection – Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent* (2009)
• *Letters to Yves* (2010)
• *Yves Saint Laurent, a Moroccan Passion* (2010)
• *Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, the Fashion Revolution* (2011)

External links

• Official site of the Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation