DIONYSIAC ECTASY Roman sarcophagus, 2nd century, from Perga, ancient Greek city in Anatolia - Archaeological Museum, Antalya, Turkey
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 (Roman name for the Maenads) were said to behave like ferocious beasts.
APOSTLE St JOHN THE EVANGELIST El Greco, c. 1608/14 - Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain
THE DRUNK (L'IVROGNE) Eugene Laermans 1898 - Belgium Royal Museums, Brussels
CAFE SCENE, LES HALLES, PARIS Robert Doisneau, 1953
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 (Roman name for the Maenads) were said to behave like ferocious beasts.
APOSTLE St JOHN THE EVANGELIST El Greco, c. 1608/14 - Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain
THE DRUNK (L'IVROGNE) Eugene Laermans 1898 - Belgium Royal Museums, Brussels
CAFE SCENE, LES HALLES, PARIS Robert Doisneau, 1953
BACCHUS, VENUS AND ARIADNE Tintoretto, 1576 - Palazzo Ducale, Sala dell'Anticollegio, Venice, Italy
THE MYSTIC WINEPRESS Anonymous, Southern Andes, 1700/1800 - Museo Pedro de Osma, Barranco, Peru
BEARDED MAN CROWNED OWITH VINE LEAVES Pablo Picasso, 1962, lino print - Private collection
NATURE MORTE VIVANTE (FAST-MOVING STILL LIFE) Salvador Dali, 1956 - Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
YOUNG MAN SEATED AT A TABLE, SMOKING Arnold Boonen, 1690s - Private collection
DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE (with a rhyton) Pompeii, 1-79 - Villa Getty, Los Angeles, USA
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.
APOSTLE St JOHN THE EVANGELIST El Greco, c. 1608/14 - Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain
THE DRUNK (L'IVROGNE) Eugene Laermans 1898 - Belgium Royal Museums, Brussels
CAFE SCENE, LES HALLES, PARIS Robert Doisneau, 1953
BACCHUS, VENUS AND ARIADNE Tintoretto, 1576 - Palazzo Ducale, Sala dell'Anticollegio, Venice, Italy
THE MYSTIC WINEPRESS Anonymous, Southern Andes, 1700/1800 - Museo Pedro de Osma, Barranco, Peru
BEARDED MAN CROWNED OWITH VINE LEAVES Pablo Picasso, 1962, lino print - Private collection
NATURE MORTE VIVANTE (FAST-MOVING STILL LIFE) Salvador Dali, 1956 - Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
YOUNG MAN SEATED AT A TABLE, SMOKING Arnold Boonen, 1690s - Private collection
DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE (with a rhyton) Pompeii, 1-79 - Villa Getty, Los Angeles, USA
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.
APOSTLE St JOHN THE EVANGELIST El Greco, c. 1608/14 - Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain
THE DRUNK (L'IVROGNE) Eugene Laermans 1898 - Belgium Royal Museums, Brussels
CAFE SCENE, LES HALLES, PARIS Robert Doisneau, 1953
BACCHUS, VENUS AND ARIADNE Tintoretto, 1576 - Palazzo Ducale, Sala dell'Anticollegio, Venice, Italy
THE MYSTIC WINEPRESS Anonymous, Southern Andes, 1700/1800 - Museo Pedro de Osma, Barranco, Peru
BEARDED MAN CROWNED OWITH VINE LEAVES Pablo Picasso, 1962, lino print - Private collection
NATURE MORTE VIVANTE (FAST-MOVING STILL LIFE) Salvador Dali, 1956 - Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
YOUNG MAN SEATED AT A TABLE, SMOKING Arnold Boonen, 1690s - Private collection
DIONYSOS AND ARIADNE (with a rhyton) Pompeii, 1-79 - Villa Getty, Los Angeles, USA
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.
