Painted in 1952, Ville Verte is a major work by Zao Wou-Ki, which stands out for its style that blends figuration and abstraction. With its large format (1.30 × 1.50 m), rich painterly texture, and stylistic depth, the canvas ranks among the most important pieces in the Philippe Dennery Collection.

Zao Wou-Ki is one of the most renowned Chinese painters in the western world during the 20th century. He arrived in Paris from Shanghai in 1948, bringing with him a rich cultural background — deeply rooted in traditional Chinese painting and enriched by western art, which he had discovered through books and reproductions. Trained in Othon Friesz’s studio at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, he began his career with classical figurative work. But it was the discovery of Paul Klee’s art during a trip to Switzerland that marked a pivotal moment in his artistic journey — Ville Verte is a striking testament to this transformation.

On this large oil painting, a vast green surface, nuanced with ochre-yellow tones, stretches across the canvas. A delicate web of graffiti-like marks, lines, signs, and strokes creates a free visual script, subtly echoing Chinese calligraphic tradition. On closer inspection, forms gradually emerge — masts, cranes, boats, and buildings — sketching the outlines of a floating city, suspended between dream and reality. Ville Verte is a rare and foundational work, standing at the crossroads of cultures and artistic languages.

Philippe Dennery assembled a remarkable collection where modern art, historical objects and artefacts from great civilisations converge. At the heart of this ensemble, Ville Verte (1952) by Zao Wou-Ki stands as a centerpiece — a powerful expression of cultural dialogue. This conversation continues with three emblematic lamps by Alberto Giacometti — Tête de femme, Osselet, and Étoile — alongside a Bougeoir lamp by Diego Giacometti, each exploring the interplay between light, form, and spirituality.

Surrounding these modern masterpieces are objects selected with rare scholarly insight: Japanese prints by Utamaro, a set of missive boxes bearing the arms of the Grand Condé and King Louis XIII (est. €3,000 and €5,000); a 16th-century Oudenaarde tapestry (est. €2,000–€3,000); an Inuit sculpture of a polar bear (est. €1,000 and €2,000); and an elegant pair of large Regence carved walnut fauteuils a la reine, immortalized by Jean-François de Troy, valued between €15,000 and €20,000.

The collection also opens a window onto the Far East, with two wooden statues of Guanyin from the Tang-Song dynasties (7th–12th centuries), formerly part of the Paul Houo-Ming-Tse collection, estimated between €30,000 and €50,000. It concludes with a 19th-century Native American drawing — a poetic and sensitive depiction of the vast plains traversed by the Kiowa.

More than a mere assemblage of artworks, this collection reflects the vision of a passionate man — a curious mind drawn to the world and its forms — who succeeded in creating a dialogue between art, knowledge, and cultures across time and borders.

The son of an early member of the French Resistance who joined General de Gaulle in 1940, Philippe Dennery spent the war years in exile in the United States — a country to which he would remain deeply connected. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954, and earned a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Columbia University in 1958. He began his research career at the University of Pennsylvania, before joining CERN in Geneva.

Later, as an advisor to the French government, he went on to lead the family business, Société Dennery, a furniture and interior design company, which he expanded internationally, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, before selling it in 1999. He continued his entrepreneurial ventures by acquiring several companies, including the prestigious Cassegrain, a renowned papermaker and engraver.

A man of letters and convictions, he founded the Prix Novembre in 1989 as an alternative to the Goncourt Prize. Deeply committed to Franco-American dialogue, he served for over thirty years on the board of the Franco-American Foundation, the Paris counterpart of the French-American Foundation in New York.