The Tamesis
Former Christie’s auction house CEO Guillaume Cerutti has resigned from his post at the Pinault Collection after just 13 months in the job, French investigative news outlet reports vanity reported earlier this week.
In February 2025, Cerutti became president of the collection of French billionaire François Pinault. In addition to the 10,000 works in its collection, the Pinault Collection owns several private museums: the Bourse in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana museums in Venice, which host regular exhibitions. The Paris branch opened in 2021, and the Venice branch opened in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Pino also owns Teatrino in Venice, a 225-seat auditorium that reopened in 2013 after a renovation by Tadao Ando, who also worked on the design of two other spaces in Venice.
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Neither Cerutti nor the Pinault Collection have commented on his departure, a spokesperson told The Art Newspaper There are currently no plans to appoint a new or interim president. Pinault still serves as honorary chairman of the collection and is said to be very active in its management.
Cerruti has had a long career in French public art, serving as managing director of the Center Pompidou, culture minister and chief of staff of an auction house. In the latter, he served as CEO of Sotheby’s France from 2007 to 2011 and subsequently became Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. In 2016, he was hired as president of Christie’s Europe, Middle East, Russia and India operations. A year later, he became CEO, serving until January 2025. He was replaced by Bonnie Brennan, then president of the Americas region, but continued as chairman of the board.
The move to the Pinault Collection does not mean a change of ownership: Pinault has been the owner of Christie’s since 1998. Both entities are owned by his investment holding company Groupe Artémis, which also owns Creative Artists Agency, which the billionaire acquired in 2023 for $7 billion. Pinault made his fortune as the founder of luxury goods group Kering, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta; he is ranked 81st among the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $29.5 billion. Forbes‘s annual billionaire list.
