Pont des Arts

Our Philosophy

Pont des Arts, the brainchild of Thibault Pontallier and Arthur de Villepin, is a unique collection of exclusive wines. In our constant quest for beauty, pleasure and quality, we have brought together the best from each of the two worlds of art and wine.
Pont des Arts is a bridge between art and wine, East and West, and collectors and newcomers alike.

Our Name

The "Pont des Arts" is one of the most famous, romantic bridges in Paris. It was built between 1802 and 1804, under the Empire of Napoléon I. Crossing over the River Seine, it links the "Institut de France" to the "Palais du Louvre" - known as the "Palais des Arts" two centuries ago.

The Founders

When Arthur and Thibault met in Hong Kong in 2010, they shared a common goal: to promote abroad what France does best. Arthur was passionate about art and loved wine, Thibault was passionate about wine and loved art. This project combines their French roots and lifestyle with different cultures and talents.

The Artists

For its two first collections – 2010 and 2011 vintages – Pont des Arts worked with Zao Wou-Ki. His paintings are widely recognized as an examplary reconciliation of Chinese and European aesthetics, in which the language of modern Western abstraction is enriched by a Chinese chord deeply rooted in the past.
With the 2012 vintage, Thibault and Arthur wrote a new chapter of Pont des Arts’ history. They worked with one of the most famous artists representing China's new generation: Yue Minjun. This famous contemporary Chinese artist is best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter. He lives and works in Beijing and is part of the key movement of the post-1989 era in Chinese avant-garde art: Cynical Realism.

Bridging Worlds

The founders and the artist have collaborated closely and wanted this project to also be a bridge between generations. They went in Zao Wou-ki's atelier in Paris several times, carefully thinking out the association between each painting and each wine. The goal throughout the selection was to express the evolution of Zao Wou-Ki's art, from figurative to abstract, and to match each painting with the characteristics of wines from different appellations.

Artists ：
Zao Wou-Ki
Zao Wou-Ki has painted several paintings as tributes to the great master-painters, to friends, be they painters or poets. This painting belongs to the much more restricted group of homages painted for the members of his family. Thus he painted homages to May his second wife and also to Wu-Wei, his brother. This triptych, dedicated to Françoise, his wife since 1977, amply uses red, the colour of happiness in China.

Yue Minjun
Born in 1962, Yue Minjun is a contemporary Chinese artist based in Beijing, China. He is best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter. He has also reproduced this signature image in sculpture, watercolour and prints. While Yue is often classified as part of the Chinese Cynical Realist art movement developed in 1989, Yue rejects this label, but also "doesn't concern himself about what people call him.

Miquel Barceló
A contemporary artist representing Spain, from Mallorca, off the coast of Barcelona. The work is known for its experimental approach to painting and sculpture. It fuses art movements from all over the world and serves as a bridge for multiple cultures. In fact, in the 1980s he ran through Europe, the United States and South Africa, opening a second studio in his second home, Paris. Barceló is the youngest artist whose work has been exhibited in the Louvre, also in the Picasso Museum in Paris, and in addition to the ceiling murals at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in Geneva, the Chapel of the Mallorca Cathedral, and the hand-held elephant. He has created many works as a transformative artist.