Mouton to open gallery of original artwork for old labels

A new art gallery will open at Chateau Mouton Rothschild this summer to permanently house the, until now, travelling exhibition of Mouton Rothschild wine labels. The new display space will be separate to Mouton’s Museum of Art in Wine and is part of major renovations due for completion in June 2013. For the first time all the original artworks commissioned for the labels, first by Baron Philippe and now Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, will be on display.

The first label Baron Philippe commissioned was in 1924, from poster designer Jean Carlu, to celebrate the chateau’s move to estate-bottling. Then came a return to more traditional labels until 1945, when he celebrated the end of the war and his return to his property with the famous V for Victory label by Philippe Jullian.

Almost every great, or at least controversial, artist of the last 70 years has been commissioned including includes Picasso, Andy Warhol, Lucien Freud, Salvador Dali and our very own Prince Charles.
The artists are paid with 10 cases of Mouton Rothschild (five from the year of their label, plus five of different vintages).