François Pinault was born on August 21, 1936, in Champs-Géraux in Brittany. He established his first wood business in Rennes in 1963. Subsequently, he widened the scope of his activities in different sectors.

In 1999, PPR had become third largest firm in the luxury-goods sector world-wide, after acquiring the Gucci Group (Gucci, Yves Saint-Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Balenciaga).

In 1992, he created Artemis, a private company entirely owned by the Pinault family. Artemis controls the Château-Latour vineyard in Bordeaux, the news magazine Le Point and the daily newspaper l’Agefi. François Pinault also controls the auction house Christie’s, a world leader in the art market, as well as being a controlling shareholder in the Bouygues Group and Vinci.

François Pinault is also the owner of a French premiere league football team, Stade Rennais Football Club, and of the Théâtre Marigny in Paris.

In 2003, François Pinault entrusts his group to his son François-Henri Pinault ».

A great lover of art, and one of the largest collectors of contemporary art in the world, François Pinault has decided to share his passion with the greatest number of people possible. In May 2005, he acquired the prestigious Palazzo Grassi in Venice, where he presented a part of his collection during three exhibitions: Where Are We Going?, Post-Pop, and Sequence 1.

In June 2007 François Pinault was selected by the City of Venice to undertake the transformation of Punta della Dogana into a new center for contemporary art, where his collection will be on permanent display. Renovated by Tadao Ando, Punta della Dogana opened the 6th of June 2009.

Solicited by many municipalities, public and private institutions, François Pinault also presents a part of his collection outside of Venice, for instance, the exhibition Passage du Temps at the Tri Postal in Lille (2007), Un certain Etat du Monde? at the Melnikov Garage in Moscow (2009) and Qui a peur des artistes? at Dinard in Brittany (2009).

He was nominated President of the Comité Français in October 2008 and appointed International Adviser to the candidate selection committee for the 2009 Praemium Imperiale. François Pinault was named the most influential person in the world of contemporary art for two years running (2006 and 2007) by the magazine Art Review.