An artwork by Joana Vasconcelos to illustrate the label for Château Mouton Rothschild 2023
For the first time ever, a Portuguese artist has created an artwork for the Château Mouton Rothschild label. Joana Vasconcelos’s “Paraíso” illustrates the 2023 vintage, adding her name to the remarkable list of contemporary artists who have preceded her.
Famous for her monumental, joyful installations, Joana Vasconcelos chose the challenge of creating a label-sized artwork. Her drawing centres on a cluster of grapes and illustrates all the elements that come together to create a great wine: earth and water, the sun’s rays and the cool of the night, combined with the work of human hands, represented by the apex of a triangle as a beneficial incursion into the cycle of nature.
Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each element has its own shape and colour and plays a complementary and decisive role. The vine is the centre of human attention and thrives in the paradise – “Paraíso” in Portuguese – that is the Château Mouton Rothschild terroir, whose soil, sun and water have nourished grapes from time immemorial.
True to her bright, colourful universe, the artist has used her talent for graphic arts, honed over several years, to create the drawing that illustrates the label for the 2023 vintage.
Joana Vasconcelos explains the inspiration behind her original artwork
“I felt very privileged and honoured 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.
My inspiration for the label were the grapes and vines and the naturalistic aspect of the Château Mouton, meaning nature. “Paraíso” (Paradise) is a work inspired by the idea of perfection, of luxury, and the coherence between nature and man.”
Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild has been familiar with her work for many years. He was impressed by her large-scale exhibition at Versailles Palace in 2012. More recently, he visited the one at the Liria Palace in Madrid, where the artist contrasted her contemporary creations with very old works in a fascinating dialogue between two periods of time. The owners of Château Mouton Rothschild, beguiled by the spectacular creations that have made her famous, also see common ground between the way Joana Vasconcelos uses, assembles and works with different raw materials and the making of a fine wine. They appreciate the vision and joy that emanate from her universe, found here in her original artwork for the label.
“Joana 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. 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.”
Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, co-owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, responsible for the estate’s artistic and cultural activity and for relations with artists.
