Yves Saint Laurent Pierre Bergé - Christie's

It might seem surprising that Pierre Bergé, unlike
his collection of art, is perfectly in tune with his
times. He has demonstrated his sympathy for the
modern era over the past 30 years through his
support for contemporary art. Who, after all,
commissioned Cy Twombly to produce the
magnificent curtain for the Opéra de Paris? Who
backed the theatrical inventions of his friend Bob
Wilson, and who invited the greatest performing
artists, vocalists and musicians to the Monday
concerts at the Athénée theatre, which he had just
purchased and restored? And who financed,
among other things, Anselm Kiefer’s Shevirat
ha-Kelim show at the Chapelle de la Salpêtrière
during the Festival d’Automne in Paris?
Pierre Bergé also loves the modern era for its
social and scientific progress. Sometimes called a
man of influence, he is first and foremost a man
of action, driven by a boundless energy, having
adopted André Gide’s assertion as his own: ‘My
old age will begin the day I can no longer get
indignant.’ Making a veritable cult of his dislikes,
Bergé argues that good taste, in itself, doesn’t exist
(perhaps because he was born a natural aristocrat,
and therefore of a breed on the decline). He feels
that a collection, like life, can be more surely
explained by its absences (deliberate or not) than
by what it displays. Bergé’s inclinations,
unhindered by any taboo, extend into the most
unexpected realms, attesting to a supreme
freedom of mind guided by the sole desire for
perfection and harmony.
A visit to Bergé’s – or Yves Saint Laurent’s –
apartment prompts us to meditate on the role of a
128
Pierre Bergé
Art Patron and Collector
By José Alvarez
collector’s curiosity and cultural awareness.
Objects picked up during a casual stroll enter into
constant dialogue not only with major works by a
wide range of artists but also with items of oldest
antiquity. As an art historian and expert, Bergé’s
choices were based on the intrinsic value of a work
yet also on the conditions behind its emergence,
on the role it played in a given artistic context. It is
therefore hardly surprising that many of the pieces
in his collection had a significant impact on the
taste of their times.
More surely than any astrological chart, a collection
reveals the personality of a collector. Here it is
transcended by the solid judgment with which each
piece of furniture, each painting, each work of art,
each sculpture, and each drawing has been
selected, always with respect for the artist yet
equally through the determination to generate an
absolute historical resonance – the only way to stir
emotion. Rather than staging things in a somewhat
spectacular way, Bergé’s collection reflects a
profound desire to make these works his personal
partners in life, a life devoted to action as well as to
contemplation. His collection is part of a broader
perspective – everything, down to the tiniest detail,
contributes to this coherence, from which nothing
escapes. In short, it’s an entire ethic.
And yet it would be vain to read Bergé’s personality
solely in terms of the objects around him. It is
equally important to take into account his
indomitable attraction to literature and books, in
addition to his work as an art patron, which has
brought him into close contact with contemporary
creative activity. While taste is a question of ethics
Photograph: Droits Réservés
© 2008 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York