CH’NG Poh Tiong
Peter Doig hands over his painting to Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild at Chateau Mouton Rothschild
MOUTON 2020 • DREAMSCAPE LABEL
British painter of Scottish origin Peter Doig has created an endearing label for the sensational 2020 vintage of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
The original work weaves in a guitarist, vineyard workers, bunches sagging with grapes, and a full moon.
The painting lures us into a dream.
Peter Doig combines echoes of Cezanne, Van Goh and Millet in his work.
“The painting shows something of what goes on behind the scenes in the production of wine, what happens offstage, as it were. It’s a sort of ode to workers, to all those involved at the various stages of making a wine before it’s finally bottled. It’s a dream with a romantic streak, as if someone spontaneously decided to sing in the vines. It’s a moment of poetry, where you can take your time. It’s neither really day nor really night, but rather something in between, between waking and sleeping. It is possible to see it as a progression, a dream journey in the world of the harvest.”
The work has a personal inspiration in his Trinidadian friend, an artist known as Embah (Emheyo Bhabba) who brought a cuatro – a four string guitar – to one of Doig’s exhibitions in Paris. And who went on to share his music and poetry during the course of the evening.
Born in Edinburgh in 1959, Peter Doig grew up in Trinidad and Canada before moving to London to study at St Martin’s School of Art and Chelsea School of Art. Since 2002, he has lived between London and Trinidad. The artist has been the subject of major museum exhibitions worldwide including at Tate Britain in 2008, the National Gallery of Scotland in 2013, Fondation Beyeler 2015, and the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo in 2020.
Peter Doig taught for a number of years, notably at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, where he held a professorship from 2004 to 2017. Doig also served as a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1995 to 2000.
Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, co-owner of Chateau Mouton Rothschild with responsibility for the estate’s artistic and cultural activity and relations with the artist who creates the original artwork for the label of each new vintage reveals the inspiration behind his newest choice.
Artist Peter Doig with the proprietors of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, from left, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild and Camille Sereys de Rothschild.
“We wanted an artist who uses canvas and pictorial material to express figurative subjects. Unrivalled as a colourist, Peter Doig focuses entirely on painting and has become one of his generation’s foremost exponents of the discipline, holding exhibitions all over the world. There is something very special about his technique and his universe that sets them apart in contemporary figurative art. His subjects are very varied, his painting resists any classification: he has succeeded in creating his own, inimitable world.”
Since 1945, the label for each vintage of Chaateau Mouton Rothschild has been illustrated by an original artwork. Year after year, they enhance a unique collection of contemporary art by very different artists from a wide variety of backgrounds, including Dalí, Cesar, Miro, Chagall, Picasso, Warhol, Soulages, Bacon, Balthus, Tapies, Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Annette Messager and Olafur Eliasson.
All the artworks can be seen in the “Paintings for the Labels Exhibition”, created by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild in 1981 and on permanent display at Chateau Mouton Rothschild since 2013.
