The label of the 2017 vintage of Château Mouton Rothschild has been revealed – it is a work called “Hallelujah” by artist Annette Messager.
Each year since 1945, Château Mouton Rothschild has given an artist complete freedom to create an original artwork for the label of the vintage to be released. The artwork was the brainchild of Baron Philippe, who in 1924 had commissioned a Cubist-style label for the wine from artist Jean Carlu. The château was expropriated by the Germans in World War II, when it became a military headquarters. When the Baron returned in 1945, he once again commissioned famous artists to create his labels, establishing it as a tradition. Over the years, artists have included Jean Cocteau, Chagall, Dali, Picasso, Warhol and Koons. The artists do not receive a fee for their work but are paid in cases of Mouton Rothschild.
In 1981, Baroness Philippine launched a travelling art exhibition, “Mouton Rothschild, Paintings for the Labels”, shown in museums around the world. It is now on permanent display at the Château.
The 2017 may prove controversial, as it depicts breasts. Annette Messager “joins, in a manner both realistic and symbolic, the celebration of two familiar substances, milk and wine, which the Bible often associates with each other, hymning the virtues of both,” according to the press statement from the Château.
Messager, born in France in 1943, has had her work exhibited in museums from Paris to London, Tokyo and New York, and has won a number of major awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2005, and the Praemium Imperiale in Japan in 2016.
Château Mouton Rothschild is jointly owned by Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Camille Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild.
Via press release
