Suggestion: Schubert, Piano trio No 2, op. 100, 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
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'.
Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists […] Marcel Proust, Time Regained: In Search of Lost Time, Modern Library Classics
Artists, especially painters, have always acted as commentators. Wine and the Vine have been part of our social, cultural, religious, political and economic history throughout the ages. By telling their history, these artists help us better understand our own.
>> THEMATIC TOUR: 5 COLLECTIONS, 33 PAINTING GALLERIES
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 5,000 years of history of wine and the vine from Antiquity to the present day.
Let us suggest the following route around the museum: Wine and the Arts to whet your appetite, the Focus: a look, a work 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?
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...
THE BROTHERS CLARKE WITH OTHER GENTLEMEN TAKING WINE
Gawen Hamilton, between 1730 and 1735 - Yale University, New Haven, CT, US
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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 >>
In the same way The Virtual Wine Museum offers a new perspective on the knowledge of wine and its history, especially social history. 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.
It is a recognized reference site. It has been selected in 2020 by the jury of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), who have given it a Special Mention in their Fine Arts category. The museum is also a member of the network of partners of the international Chair on “Wine Culture and Traditions” at the University of Burgundy.
SEVEN WORKS OF MERCY: FEED THE HUNGRY, GIVE DRINK TO THE THIRSTY Domenico Ghirlandaio (School of), after restoration, 1478/81 - Oratorio dei Buonimi di San Martino, Florence, Italy
A new perspective on the history of wine
Georges-Henri Rivière, 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.
Could this harvest scene have really taken place?
Van Gogh painted two landscapes featuring vines in oils –The Green Vine and The Red Vine – during his period in Arles, where he lived from 20th February 1888. The Red Vine is one of the artist’s best-known paintings, and often said to be the only one sold in his lifetime – in February 1890. He produced a harvest scene in late October, near Arles, depicting red vines. This is decidedly odd: Arles is in a Mediterranean region, a harvest by that time is still terribly late. Usually, the grape harvest takes place before the vines turn red. There is a plethora of grape-pickers – twenty-one! Night has almost fallen. What to make of this harvest scene? Could it have really taken place as Van Gogh depicts it, so late in the year? Let’s examine the evidence in Van Gogh’s Letters to his brother Théo...
Eugène Atget takes us on a stroll around “Vieux Paris”. Wandering from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, we’re on the hunt for wine merchants, bars, cabarets, cafés and restaurants – like this bougnat's shop (Auvergnat living in Paris), where wines and liquors jostle firewood and sacks of coal. Atget’s obstinate desire to lay reality bare makes him the grandfather of modern photography.
Still on display: the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam accompanies our display of Persian miniatures. Wine, frequently mentioned in Khayyam’s verses, is presented as a cure for melancholy and even the elixir of life. Two other exhibitions focus on art of today. Burgundy-based abstract painter Bertrand Sallard gives us his take on the tasks of the “vine to wine” process dictated by the seasons. Meanwhile, our Street Art exhibition shows Bacchus and wine taking over the urban landscape.
Pour sa nouvelle et seconde édition, le Musée Virtuel du Vin a souhaité vous proposer des œuvres qu'il estime être des temps forts de ses collections et de ses expositions. Ce choix évoluera au fil du temps et au gré des inspirations. Explorez régulièrement les oeuvres retenues au sein de telle ou telle époque : l'Antiquité, le Moyen-Âge et les Temps modernes.
> Découvrez les oeuvres dans leur entier en cliquant sur les vignettes et cliquez sur le lien ("link") qui vous est proposé pour afficher la galerie de rattachement.
ANTIQUITY: from the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia towards 3600 BC to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
UR-NANSHE'S VOTIVE RELIEF, KING OF LAGASH ca. 2550/2500 B.C., Tello, ancient city of Girsu, Sumer - Louvre Museum, Paris
'THE CUP-BEARER', Seated figurine (or idol), marble H. 15.2 cm Early Cycladic II, 2600/2300 B.C. - Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
GRAPE HARVEST, TOMB OF NEBAMUN Dynasty 18th ca. 1422/1411 BC. - Theban Necropolis, Valley of the Nobles, Thebes, Egypt
RHYTON IN THE SHAPE OF A BIRD ca. early 1st millennium B.C. Northwestern Iran - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
ARMENIAN AMBASSADORS OFFER WINE AND A HORSE TO THE PERSIAN EMPEROR (Darius), Relief, ca. 515 BC. – Apadana, Persepolis, Iran (Persia)
DIONYSOS RIDING A PANTHER 120/-80 B.C. - House of the Masks, Delos, Greece
THE STATUE OF THE YOUNG BACCHUS Unknown Roman artist First half of 1st century AD - The Getty Villa, Malibu, California, United States
DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE (lifts a ceremonial drinking horn called a rhyton, while Bacchus carries a kantharos, a wine cup) 1/79 A.D. - Getty, Malibu, CA, United States
HARVESTING AND TREADING OF GRAPES Mosaic, 4th century AD., Santa Costanza Church, Roma
MIDDLE AGES: from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD to the discovery of America and the taking of Granada by the royal armies of Aragon and Castile, which both took place in 1492.
THE TEMPTATION OF EVE Attr. Gilebert , lintel from Saint Lazare Cathedral, Autun, after restoration, ca. 1130 - Rolin Museum, Autun, France
HARVEST Doorway arch, zodiac calendar and calendar of the seasons, from a 12th-century Roman church - Civray, Poitou, France
LIBRA ZODIAC SIGN, TREADING OF THE GRAPES West rose window, Zodiac, 1220/25 - Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris
THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH, THE TRINITY APOCALYPSE, ca. 1250/60 - The Trinity College Library, Cambridge, UK
MONKEY DRAWING WINE Pontifical de Guillaume Durand ca. 1357 - Ste-Genevieve Library, Paris
THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH Jacobello Alberegno 1360/90, Tempera on panel - Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy
HOLY WINE (SAINT VINAGE) FOR ERGOTISM (St Anthony’s Fire) Fresco ca. 1385 - St Anthony the Great's Chapel, Clans, Alpes Maritimes, France
CHRIST IN THE WINEPRESS Fresco, 15th century - Brøns Kirke, Denmark
NOAH WINEGROWING, THE DRUNKENNESS OF NOAH Miroir historial, Vincent de Beauvais, 1463 - BnF, Paris
MODERN ERA: started with the taking of Granada and the discovery of America in 1492 and continues to the present day.
AN ALLEGORY OF GLUTTONY or THE SHIP OF THE FOOLS (LA NEF DES FOUS) H. Bosch, ca. 1495/1500 - Musée du Louvre, Paris
A YOUNG MAN OFFERING A CUP OF WINE TO A GIRL Persian miniature, 16th century - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CT, USA
VIRGIN AND CHILD Joos van Cleve, ca. 1515/20 - Private collection
THE TRIUMPH OF BACCHUS Benvenuto Tisi (Il Garofalo), ca. 1540 - Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany
LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS Lucas Cranach, 1553 - Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
THE LAST SUPPER Tintoretto, 1559 - St François-Xavier Church, Paris
THE VINEYARD OF THE LORD Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1569 - St. Mary's Church, Wittenberg, Germany
AUTUMN Francesco Bassano ca. 1576 - Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienne, Austria
SUPPER AT EMMAUS Caravaggio, 1606 - Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy
SENSE OF TASTE Jusepe de Ribera 1613/16 - Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CO, United States
STILL LIFE Osias Beerl Rosenborg, 1617 - Château de Versailles, France
THE CONCERT Gerrit van Honthorst, 1623 - National Gallery of Art, Washington
FEAST OF THE WINE (THE PROCESSION OF THE FATTED OX) Master of the Processions of the Ram, ca. 1650 - Picasso Museum, Paris
AUTUMN (BACCHUS), Seasons, anonymus, 1735/36 - Rohan Palace, Strasbourg, France
PANORAMIC VIEW OF TOURS IN 1787 (VUE PANORAMIQUE DE TOURS) Pierre-Antoine Demachy, ca. 1787 - Musée des Beaux-arts, Tours, France
JARRE NÉOLITHIQUE RETROUVÉE EN GÉORGIE © Georgian National Museum
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 >>
DERNIERS POSTS PUBLIÉS
EXTASE DIONYSIAQUE Sarcophage romain, IIe siècle, de Pergé, cité antique grecque en Anatolie - Musée Archéologique d'Antalya, Turquie
What's new at The Virtual Wine Museum?
This scene of ecstasy depicts satyrs and Maenads, Bacchus’ usual companions. Satyrs are ambivalent creatures, part-man and part-stag, who live out in the wild. They make up the “Dionesic procession” accompanying the god and are associated with the Maenads, who follow on behind. The latter are not priestesses, but play an important role in religion and worship. They participate in the mysteries and festivals held in honour of the god. Personifying the orgiastic spirits of nature, they dance frenetically, plunging themselves into mystic ecstasy. The Bacchantes (the Roman name for the Maenads) were said to behave like ferocious beasts.
Some new works, restored works, and works reproduced in better and accurate quality
CAFE SCENE, "LES HALLES", PARIS Robert Doisneau, 1953
BACCHUS, VENUS AND ARIADNE Tintoretto, 1576 - Palazzo Ducale, Sala dell'Anticollegio, Venice
DIVINE WINEPRESS Anonymous, Andes mountains 1700/1800 - Museo Pedro de Osma, Barranco district, Peru
A BOY SEATED AT A TABLE, SMOKING Arnold Boonen, 1690s - Private collection
WINE CONNOISSEUR Friedrich Wahlen, ca. 1927 - Private collection
BEARDED MAN WITH A CROWN OF LEAVES AND VINES Pablo Picasso, 1962, linoleum cut - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE (with a rhyton) Pompei, 1-79 - Villa Getty, Los Angeles
STILL LIFE WITH BOTTLE Umberto Boccioni, 1912 - Centre Pompidou, Paris
NEBAMUN RECEIVING WINE A.D. 1916; original ca. 1390–1349 B.C. Valley of TheNobles, Theban Necropolis, Egypt - Met, New York
"THE 'PINARD' ARRIVES AT THE FRONT." Le Pays de France, n°140, June 21, 1917
The "documentary" photos ground us in reality while adding their own viewpoint. Four themes confirm this beyond dispute: the transportation of wine, the wine-growers’ crisis of 1907, the Prohibition period (1920-33) in the USA, and the poilus' plonk of the 1914-18 Great War.
The chronic overproduction of wine at the start of the 20th century would end up being absorbed by the “poilus”. The war began on 3rd August 1914 and, before the month was even over, the wine producers of the south of France had donated 200,000 hectolitres to soldiers headed for the front. The wine consumed by the poilus kept up the soldiers’ morale by giving them heart, and helping them fight their fear. For Christophe Lucand, « it soon became essential that the men hold on. The military authorities were haunted by previous defeats – that of 1870 and the disasters that followed. They feared a break in the front line.” Here, in a village won back from the enemy, a truck distributes the precious drink.
While « pinard », or cheap wine, is most often associated with the WW1 “poilus”, it was served to soldiers long before this in several North-Eastern regiments. Colonial troops and the French Navy had been consuming it since 1905 at least. Thus was pinard given to the Marines, who had just absorbed heavy losses on the Nieuport-Dixmude front, in late 1914. They needed courage too!
History of wine, archaelogical discoveries, language and words of wine; painting movements, museums of the world, the language and words of painting: click to find out more (Fr.) >>
ACROSS THE ARTS
La vigne et le vin sont à la croisée des arts : art d'Asie