Suggestion: Schubert, Piano Trio N° 2, op. 11, D. 929, Andante con moto (1827)

  Wine and the Arts

  Wine and Painting

  Picture of the Month

A new perspective on the knowledge of wine 

This site was originally developed as part of a university project based around the creation of a virtual wine museum dedicated primarily to the medium of painting. The objective was to show how, and according to which themes, artists have treated wine and the vine. Like physical museums, virtual museums aim to promote culture and to make it accessible for everyone.

André Malraux’s ‘imaginary museum’ or ‘the museum without walls’ (as it is often translated)* is closer than ever before, thanks to new technological formats : Malraux' imaginary museum has become a virtual museum  >>. The Virtual Wine Museum shares Malraux’s vision and offers a new perspective on the knowledge of wine and its history, especially social history.

​

The museum’s creator, Eric Beau, is a member of the UNESCO network 'Chair Culture and Traditions of Wine', Dijon. After having spent many years amidst the vines of the Côte de Beaune in Burgundy, he now lives in Bordeaux. He lectures at the University of Burgundy and in Bordeaux region.

Picture of the Month: Edgar Degas

'Degas often made portraits of his family and friends but he was also an attentive observer of the working world in millinery workshops or laundries. Only Daumier before him had taken an interest in washerwoman, who became one of Degas's favourite subjects between 1869 and 1895. At first he painted single figures seen against the light, picked out sharply against the white linen. Then, about 1884-1886, he dwelled more heavily on the subject, this time depicting two women in a laundry... The choice of this subject echoes the naturalist and social concerns of some of the artist's contemporaries, in literature as well as in painting. Zola's novel L'Assommoir published in 1877 describes Gervaise's laundry and gives a bald description of the miserable lot of the poor in Paris. Depicted hard at work, weary to the bone, the two women in Degas's painting illustrate a lucid view of the working class but one not devoid of tenderness. Degas has concentrated on the women's gestures trying to catch fleeting, everyday movements in a representation that is neither heroic nor caricatured...' (Source: Musée d'Orsay) 

​

Paintings of the Month  >>

Persian Miniatures, Abstract Art, and Street Art

New exhibition with The Rubaiyat, or quatrains of Omar Khayyam (11th century) offering a counterpoint to classical Persian miniatures on display. Wine appears frequently, presented as a remedy both for the melancholy caused by the passage of time and the brevity of life. “Drink and be merry” is the refrain of these epicurean verses.

Contemporary art is the order of the day for the current exhibitions. Bertrand Sallard, an abstract painter living in Burgundy, presents variations on the “vine to wine” process, following the rhythm of the seasons.

With street art and graffiti, Bacchus and wine have taken over walls in cities worldwide. While some see graffiti as undesirable, others consider its most elaborate forms a type of art that deserves attention.

​

Exhibitions  >>

BLOG: Wine, Art and Museum News (Fr.)

Scientists agree that vinification was first practised in the Caucuses, since the 19th century considered the homeland of vine cultivation. Georgia has confirmed its position as the birthplace of viticulture with some new archaeological discoveries. Winegrowing originated over 8,000 years ago, almost ten decades earlier than previously thought. Before the announcement, the earliest evidence of viticulture – dating from around 5,000 BC – had been found in Iran’s Zagros mountains. Residue found in eight large ceramic containers had been identified as wine by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the Georgian National Museum and the University of Toronto. This discovery is the earliest evidence of winemaking by humans to date.

​

Blog (Fr.) : Wine, Art, and Museum News | Works to know  >>

What's new at The Virtual Wine Museum?

Ossip Zadkine often made reference to the cafes, particularly those of Montparnasse, that he frequented with Modigliani until the painter's death. Doubtless these included the smoky universe of La Rotonde, a regular haunt and a place where painters, musicians and poets were known to mix.

Zadkine always drew attention to his characters by making them much larger than the surrounding urban landscape. In The Guitar Player , if the pavement café in the foreground is animated by the guitarist and sitting customers, the road behind is deserted, gray and lined with identical-looking houses. The undetailed, pastel-hued figures are brought to the fore by the brighter colors of the setting.

Gallery At cafe >>

Twitter 2019: the most popular works

The 2019 star of the Virtual Wine Museum’s Twitter account is this stained glass from Notre-Dame in Paris. Like the rest of the western rose window, it escaped the blaze. The glass depicts each month’s agricultural work associated with its zodiac sign, Virtues and Vices, the prophets and, in the centre, the Virgin Mary. Traditionally, Aries – the first fire sign – starts off the new annual cycle. Spring has just arrived and a man is pruning the vine. March is always the best month for such work. “Trim on St Aubin’s Day [1st March] and big grapes will come your way…” The depiction of vices and virtues, the star signs and the work associated with them is typical of the Middle Ages. The rose window is a colourful reflection of the stone bas-reliefs of the western façade, which used to be painted but are now bare. This image is taken from the left door, known as the Virgin’s Door..

​

Vine and wine in stained-glasses  >>

The Virtual Wine Museum on Twitter  >>

TWITTER 2018