Pierre was born in La Roche-sur-Yon in 1950, Gilles in Le Havre in 1953. At the beginning of the 1970s, Gilles graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre, while Pierre was studying photography in Geneva. In 1974, Gilles corresponded for a year with Annette Messager. He settled in Paris, did paintings and collages, collected Photomatons and did illustrations for magazines and advertising. After service in the army in 1973, Pierre began working in Paris as a photographer for the magazines Rock & Folk, Dépêche Mode and Interview.

1976-1981

In autumn 1976, Pierre and Gilles met at the opening of the Kenzo boutique in Paris and started living together. Their apartment/studio was in rue des Blancs-Manteaux, Paris. As from 1977, it became clear that they should work in collaboration. Pierre will shoot and Gilles paint, each one working on the other works. Their work for the publication Façade brought them to the attention of the public. They photographed Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger, Yves Saint Laurent and Iggy Pop. First series of Grimaces with their friends as models. 1978 saw the start of the Palace era, for which they produced posters and invitation cards. In 1979, they moved to the Bastille district. They took their first trip to India. They worked for Thierry Mugler, and produced album covers…

1982-1985

Adam and Eve in 1982 marked a real turning point in their work. They created their first series in the Maldives and, in Sri Lanka Les Enfants des voyages. In 1983, first personal exhibition at the Texbraun gallery in Paris with Paradis and Garçons de Paris. In 1984, they exhibited at "Ateliers 84" at the ARC-Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. Many collaborations with musicians and singers (Etienne Daho, Lio, Amanda Lear, the Japanese Sandii). 1985: first videos with the group Mikado. Exhibition at the Art Ginza Space in Tokyo.

1986-1996

Exhibition of the Naufragés and the Pleureuses in 1986 at the Galerie Samia Saouma in Paris. They deal with religious themes and the saints. They work with Tomah, a young Laotian who was to become their stylist and assistant for 10 years. 1989 saw the beginning of their friendship with Marc Almond with whom they made a video. Since 1990, they have lived and worked at Pré-Saint-Gervais in the Paris suburbs. Their studio reflects perfectly their own universe, gathering objects is a permanent source of inspiration.
They made several trips to Asia. In 1992 they exhibited at the Diaghilev Modern Art Museum in Saint-Petersburg and in 1995 in Moscow. In 1993, they received the Grand Prix de Photographie of Paris. In 1994, they produced the series Au bord du Mékong in Laos and Les Boxeurs thaï in Bangkok. In 1995, they exhibited at the Roslyn Oxley9 gallery in Sidney, produced the poster for the "Gay & Lesbian" festival. They worked on Jolis Voyous and Les Plaisirs de la Forêt. In 1996, the first retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris where they created a scenography that differs according to the topics they chose. This exhibition was a great success to the public. The catalogue published by Taschen, including texts by Bernard Marcadé and Dan Cameron, becomes an international reference.

1997-1999

In 1998, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Valencia devoted a retrospective to them; in December, Douce Violence was their first exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris. Then in 1999, they participated in the Rosso Vivo exhibition at the Padiglione d’Arte Moderna in Milan and also presented a retrospective of their work at the Turun Taidemuseo, Turku, Finland.

2000

2000 was an eventful year. A major exhibition was devoted to them within the Appearance exhibition in Bologna and they participated in the large exhibition "Beauty", in Avignon, for which they presented an installation with the works Radha and Krishna. Then the consecration, with their retrospective curated by Dan Cameron at the New Museum in New York and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. They met Kenneth Anger and James Bidgood with whom they are very close.

2001-2004

Beginning on November 9, 2001, Arrache mon cœur is their second personal exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, and then is presented at the Kunsthaus in Vienna in 2002. At the end of 2002, publication of Album Pierre et Gilles, a book gathering more than 540 of their works.
From January 17 to March 2, 2003, a retrospective Pierre et Gilles is organised at the Botanique in Brussels. Then in New York, exhibition Pierre et Gilles at the Robert Miller Gallery from May 14 to June 28, 2003.
In 2004, Pierre et Gilles present their first major retrospective in Asia: Pierre et Gilles – Beautiful Dragon is first presented at the Seoul Museum of Art (Korea) and then tours at the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
From September 24 to November 18, new personal exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, entitled Le Grand Amour.

2005-2007

From September 26 to November 15, 2005, large Retrospective exhibition of Pierre et Gilles for the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) of Shanghai.
The work Capitaine Nemo is exhibited during La Force de l’Art, curated by Eric Troncy, large exhibition of the French artistic scene, organized at the Grand Palais in Paris from May 10 to June 25, 2006.
Personal exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, from November 10 – January 10, 2007, Un monde parfait.
From February 20 to May 20, 2007, the Musée d’Orsay invites Pierre et Gilles to exhibit one new work created within the exhibition Correspondances Musée d’Orsay / Art, La mort d’Abel, in comparison with La mort d’Abel by Vincent Feugères des Forts.
Retrospective of Pierre et Gilles from February 22 to April 8, 2007 at The Moscow House of Photography, The Manege, in Moscow, then from April 20 to May 25, 2007 at the Marble Palace of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Large retrospective from June 26 to September 23 at the Jeu de Paume in Paris celebrating their 30 years of common life and collaboration. New monograph published by Taschen.
Within the collector François Pinault’s exhibition Passage du temps curated by Caroline Bourgeois six works of Pierre et Gilles are presented at Tri Postal in Lille.

2007/2009

In 2008 Pierre et Gilles are awarded with the Prize “CulturesFrance/Créateurs sans frontières”. Invited by curator Dan Cameron they present 16 new works in Prospect 1, New Orleans Biennial. In June first retrospective in Sofia Art Gallery in Bulgaria. Since the end of 2007 new works from the series Wonderful town about a chaotic urban world. Invited by curator Jean-Yves Jouannais of art triennial La Force de l’Art 02 (April to June 2009) Pierre et Gilles present La Vierge à l’Enfant in the center of their own installation set up in the church Saint Eustache in Paris.