Suggestion: Schubert, Piano Trio N° 2, op. 11, D. 929, Andante con moto (1827)
The ‘Muses’ companion since Antiquity, wine has been represented through many different art forms, such as literature, music and photography, as well as architecture, decorative and fine arts. Wine seems to have been a particular source of fascination for painters.
LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY (Detail)
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
1880-1881
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
Wine takes centre stage in this painting by Renoir. Placed at the heart of the action, wine plays an active role and contributes to the painting’s happy, serene atmosphere. The people in the painting are shown as happy to be together and enjoying the delights of friendship. Duncan Phillips describes this work as “overflowing with contagious good humour”.
Artists, especially painters, whether great or minor masters, have always acted as commentators. Wine has been part of our social, cultural, religious, political and economic history throughout the ages. By telling its story, these artists help us better understand our own.
>> A THEMATIC TOUR: 5 PERMANENT COLLECTIONS, 31 PAINTING GALLERIES
THE VIRTUAL WINE MUSEUM'S COLLECTIONS
While painting – canvases, frescoes and illuminations – takes centre-stage, the Virtual Wine Museum also exhibits many other art forms. It’s the museum of the “Wine of the Arts”, telling history of wine from Antiquity to the present day.
The Virtual Wine Museum: Wine in the Arts, a cultural story of wine from Antiquity to the present day
>> 1,050 WORKS OF ART FROM 30 COUNTRIES. THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU.
Let us suggest the following route around the museum: Wine and the Arts to whet your appetite, the Picture of the Month to awaken your senses and the Gallery Collections to taste at your leisure or by following the guided tour below and at the bottom of the page. If you are pressed for time, why not take a quick trip around The Virtual Wine Museum’s selected highlights?
A BAR AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE (UN BAR AUX FOLIES-BERGÈRE) Edouard Manet, 1881/1882 - Courtauld Institute, London
Wine-drinkers, Painters bear witness
Wine-drinkers have been portrayed by every kind of artist, and by great masters as well as more minor painters. One of these painters, Manet (who played a significant role in the representation of wine in art) believed that art should reflect life. Wine, when represented on canvas, is no exception to this rule.
Such images are documentary, journalistic: they tell us the role played by wine in all walks of life, without exceptions. Daily life, social life, drunkenness and savoir-boire. Wine has been used as a social marker... (video: click on the icon)
THE BROTHERS CLARKE WITH OTHER GENTLEMEN TAKING WINE
Gawen Hamilton, between 1730 and 1735 - Yale University, New Haven, CT, US
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.
The Virtual Wine Museum is in accordance with the definition of a museum by ICOM (International Council of Museums): 'A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.'
The Virtual Wine Museum is now an recognized reference site: it has just been selected by the jury of the International Wine and Vine Organisation (OIV), who have awarded it a Special Mention in their Fine Arts category.
The Virtual Wine Museum is a non-profit venture. Open to all, it aims to be an international point of reference, both a historical and educational goldmine for enthusiasts and students, and an accessible, easy-to-understand site for the general public. Georges-Henri Riviere, founder and creator of the Beaune Wine Museum and the National Museum of Folk Art and Tradition, liked to say that 'the importance of a museum cannot be measured in terms of visitor numbers, but by the number of visitors who have learned something there.' Not to mention the number of visitors who come back. For virtual museums, this is truer than ever. We hope that you enjoy your visit.
THE GLASS OF WINE or A LADY DRINKING AND A GENTLEMAN Vermeer, ca. 1658-1660 - Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany
Picture of the Month: An Ally to Seduction
Women drinking wine are an essential incarnation of vice in the work of Vermeer. The artist elegantly portrays the private lives of silent, timeless women in a movingly naturalistic way. He would dedicate seven of his thirty-five known works to the negative effects of wine. In this image, wine is clearly represented as an instrument of seduction. The man hopes that the wine will act as an aphrodisiac, lifting the young woman's inhibitions and laying the groundwork for more intimate pleasures. The woman has just drained the glass of wine and the man seems impatient to pour her more, almost as if he is trying to get her drunk. A musical instrument, the cittern, lies on the chair with musical notebooks. But the figure of Temperance is depicted in the stained glass window, adding to the tension in the scene. The symbol, directly in the seated woman's eye line, is intended as a warning.
WINE DRINKING IN A SPRING GARDEN, YOUTH OFFERING A CUP OF WINE TO A MAIDEN Persian miniature, ca. 1430 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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.
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.
NEOLITHIC JAR RECOVERED FROM A NEOLITHIC SITE IN GEORGIA © Georgian National Museum
LAST PUBLISHED POSTS
STILL LIFE Osias Beerl, 1617 - Palace of Versailles, France
What's new at The Virtual Wine Museum?
As though to prove the importance of the vine in art, many artists have given this element pride of place in still life works, whether symbolic or decorative. This dates back to Antiquity, as shown by the vine motifs in mosaics and frescoes unearthed in the Vesuvius region. Still life began to emerge as a definable genre at the end of the sixteenth century. It would explode in popularity during the 17th century. This work by Osias Beerl is typical of the still life in fashion in the Netherlands and the Rhineland at that time. Only the piece of pie, the knife and the strawberry placed on the table give an inkling of a sense of life. 'Still life was to occupy the majority of the artistic space and the profusion of added elements adopted different aspects, evoking the opulence of well-stocked tables overflowing with food, crockery, people and animals… from a point of view which was both documentary and symbolic' (Le Louvre).
PARTY IN A BROTHEL Brunswick Monogrammist (workshop of), c. 1540
SEROUSLY WOUNDED, AT CAFE (Le Faouet, Britanny, France) Marius Borgeaud, 1921
MAN AND WOMAN Emil Nolde, 1911
SELF-PORTRAIT AS A DRINKER Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1914
THE LAST SUPPER (with Luther among the Apostles) Lucas Cranach the Younger, between 1547 and 1548
THE SPANISH FARMERS Ignacio Zuloaga, 1905
EMMAUS Jacopo Bassano, ca. 1538
THE KING DRINKS David Teniers the Younger, between 1650 and 1660
A GENTLEMAN PRESSING A LADY TO DRINK Gerard ter Borch, ca. 1658/59
> Click on the icons for a closer look at the artworks
1 - THE STATUE OF THE YOUNG BACCHUS Unknown Roman artist, First half of 1st century AD, h. 21.6 cm - The Getty Villa, Malibu, California, United States
Twitter 2020: the most popular works
"Dionysos, the god of wine, wears an ivy wreath hung with leaves and berries. This head is all that survives of what was once a life-size bronze statue of the god. The silvered whites of the eyes originally held inlaid irises. The dreamy, slightly unfocused gaze, as well as the slightly parted lips, conveys sensuousness and sexual ambivalence, characteristics frequently found in depictions of the god.
This portrayal derives from Hellenistic Greek art, in which the depiction of the god underwent a radical change. Before the Hellenistic period, the Greeks usually portrayed Dionysos as a mature bearded man. In Hellenistic and Roman art, Dionysos is a beardless youth, similar to images of the god Apollo, which sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish between the two gods. On this head, the ivy wreath identifies the god as Dionysos." (From Getty Museum)
Vin et Peinture, Nectar of the Gods, Dionysos / Bacchus God of Wine >>
Vine and wine in objets d'art >>
2 - DERVENI KRATER, ARIANE AND DIONYSOS ca. 330-320 BC.
3 - MEN CELEBRATING GRAPE HARVEST 562 AD
4 - BALL ON THE 14TH OF JULY Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, 1889
5 - FEAST OF THE WINE (THE PROCESSION OF THE FATTED OX) Master of the Processions of the Ram, ca. 1650
6 - THE VERY RICH HOURS OF THE DUKE OF BERRY, JANUARY Frères de Limbourg, 1412/16
7 - TAPESTRY OF BAYEUX, PANEL 37: "HERE THEY DRAG A CART WITH WINE AND ARMS", 1066/82
> Click on the icons for a closer look at the artworks
TWITTER 2019
1 - SIGNE DU BÉLIER, UN HOMME TAILLE SA VIGNE Notre-Dame de Paris - Rosace ouest, zodiac, 1220/25
2 - THE FAMILY AFTER THE MEAL or THE GREEN DINNER Edouard Vuillard, 1891
3 - FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD British School, 1545
4 - VOTIVE RELIEF OF UR-NANSHE, KING OF LAGASH (detail) Archaic Sumerian Dynasties, ca. 2550/2500 BC.
5 - AUGUST Leandro Bassano, ca. 1595-1600
6 - WINE IS A MOCKER Jan Steen, 1663/64
> Click on the icons for a closer look at the artworks
TWITTER 2018
1 - PRUNING, THE MONTH OF MARCH Heures de Catherine de Médicis, 1500/50?
2 - AUTUMN Francesco Bassano, ca. 1576
3 - THE FESTIVAL OF THE OPENING OF THE VINTAGE AT MACON Turner, 1803
4 - THE TRUE VINE Unknown artist
5 - THE BROTHERS CLARKE WITH OTHER GENTLEMEN TAKING WINE Gawen Hamilton, 1730/35
6 - THE VINEYARD OF THE LORD Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1569
> Click on the icons for a closer look at the artworks