Marking a first, a Portuguese artist is the inventive force behind the artwork for the latest Château Mouton Rothschild label. Famous for her bold, colorful sculptures and large-scale installations, Joana Vasconcelos has created “Paraíso” (Paradise) to reflect the 2023 vintage. Vasconcelos joins a long list of world-class contemporary artists who have graced the label of each vintage of the First Growth wine since the 1940s.

In recent decades Vasconcelos has been celebrated for her monumental, joyful, and often interactive works. Devising a label-sized artwork was a point of departure for her, returning the artist to the early years of her career to the foundations of drawing and design. “I felt very privileged and honored to be a part not only of a great name, but also of the ensemble of great artists that have participated in previous editions of this project,” she said.

Her vibrant, elegant label art centers around a cluster of grapes. It mirrors all the elements that combine to create a fine wine: earth, water, sunshine, cool nights, and human intervention in the vineyard and winery.

Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, co-owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, has followed Vasconcelos’ work for years. He identified a link between the way the artist assembles different raw materials in the creation of her spectacular works and the steps involved in making a fine wine.

“Vasconcelos uses everyday, traditional materials like embroidery or crochet to create artworks that explore contemporary issues such as feminism in a monumental, baroque, occasionally provocative, humorous, and engaged way. She grounds Portugal’s craft heritage in modernity,” he said. “I really like that link between art and craft because it’s what we have here at Château Mouton Rothschild, the result of high-level craftsmanship and at the same time a work of art, because each vintage is unique, rare, and hence precious.”

As early as 1924, Baron Philippe de Rothschild came up with the concept of each year’s Château Mouton Rothschild label being designed by a prominent artist. This first foray into commissioned label design saw Jean Carlu, a French Art Deco graphic designer known for his influential posters, creating the label. The novel experiment was abandoned because of poor reception of the idea. However, 1945 marked the year when contemporary was to become an annual feature at Château Mouton Rothschild with a label designed by Bordeaux-born artist, Philippe Jullian. Since 1955, internationally renowned artists have featured for each vintage.

During a trip to the United States, Philippine de Rothschild remarked that collectors were enlarging the labels and displaying them as art objects in their homes. This inspired her to organize label exhibitions starting in 1981. In 2013, a permanent exhibition was established at the château.

The label artworks have also noticeably influenced wine prices at auction. Older, collectible wines have commanded higher premiums than other First Growth wines, with unchanging labels.

Alongside Vasconcelos, other acclaimed artists who have contributed to the wine and art collaboration series over the decades include:

·         Joan Miró

·         Marc Chagall

·         Wassily Kandinsky

·         Anish Kapoor

·         Jeff Koons

·         Jean Cocteau

·         Henry Moore

·         Dorothea Tanning

·         David Hockney

·         Andy Warhol

Photo credit: Etiquette Château Mouton Rothschild 2023

True to her bright, colorful art universe, Vasconcelos used her graphic art gifts to design “Paraíso”. “My inspiration for the label were the grapes and vines and the naturalistic aspect of Château Mouton Rothschild, meaning nature. “Paraíso” (Paradise) is a work inspired by the idea of perfection, of luxury, and the coherence between nature and man”.

Each element has a unique shape and color, complementing each other and fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle. The vine is the focal point in “Paraíso”, representing the Château Mouton Rothschild terroir, whose soils, sunlight, and water have nourished grapes for eons.

Photo credit: Joana Vasconcelos - Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild©Joana Vasconcelos Atelier

Born in 1971 in France to Portuguese parents and raised in Lisbon, Joana Vasconcelos is a visual artist celebrated for her enormous sculptures and immersive installations that give new meaning to daily objects and experiences with humor and irony. Key themes in her work include women’s roles, consumerism, and collective identity.

She won international acclaim in 2005 at the Venice Biennale with The Bride, returning three times since. She was the first woman and the youngest artist to exhibit at the Palace of Versailles in 2012, attracting 1.6 million visitors, becoming the most-visited exhibition in France for half a century. In 2018, Vasconcelos was the first Portuguese artist to exhibit solo at the Guggenheim Bilbao and, in 2023, she exhibited at Florence’s Uffizi Galleries and Pitti Palace alongside classical masters.

Internationally, her work has appeared in the Istanbul Modern, Palais de Tokyo, and Hermitage, and features in major collections that include Rothschild, Calouste Gulbenkian, and Louis Vuitton. She has received over 30 awards, including Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. Since 2006, she has run the Atelier Joana Vasconcelos and, in 2012, she created her eponymous foundation to grant scholarships and support social causes.

Photo credit: Château Mouton Rothschild 2023

Château Mouton Rothschild’s 2022 vintage was released during the “wine futures” campaign in June 2023. Made up of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot; 13.3%, the luxury wine received a barrel range of 98-100 points from Jane Anson, 98-99 from James Suckling, 96-98 from Neal Martin, and 94-96 from William Kelley.

Château Mouton Rothschild encompasses 82 hectares in Pauillac, with holdings planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (79%), Merlot (17%), Cabernet Franc (3%), and Petit Verdot (1%). An average vine age of 50 years and gravel soils combined with meticulous winemaking, including aging in new French oak, result in a prestigious Bordeaux sought after by collectors and enthusiasts.

With foundations laid by Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Baroness Philippine, their children, Philippe, Camille, and Julien, now manage the house with the family ethos of “Vivre la vigne”. Honoring the estate’s legacy through its wine label art project remains a central focus of the family’s work today.

Feature image credit: Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild et oeuvre étiquette 2023 ©Mathieu Anglada

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