Remembering Pierre Bergé
The multitalented creative died today at age 86
Pierre Bergé at his retreat in Normandy. / Photo: Pascal Chevalier
Pierre Bergé had no nickname that I know of, but the pugnacious industrialist—a cofounder and longtime pilot, professional and personal, of fashion god Yves Saint Laurent—could have been dubbed Il Magnifico.
Few people juggled so much so well (give or a take a few upsets) as Bergé, who died today, age 86, at his home in Provence. He was a magazine publisher and a restaurateur (I can’t resist his Caviar Prunier outlets). A dynamo since his adventuresome youth—when he was the lover and successful promoter of French artist Bernard Buffet before defecting to Saint Laurent in a coup-de-foudre passion—he founded museums, ran opera houses, chaired foundations, and agitated French politics as an unrepentant Socialist with about as much tact as a hand grenade. He was a literary lion, had his own publishing company, and launched an auction house. He was a pioneering force in AIDS research and treatment in France, and a major figure in combating racism and discrimination. In short, Bergé was a whirlwind, a magician, a man who built mountains as easily as he moved or demolished them.