1922 – 2022: 100th anniversary of Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s arrival at Château Mouton Rothschild – Gérard Garouste creates a tribute label for the 2022 vintage
Baron Philippe de Rothschild wondered in his autobiography Vivre la Vigne, published in 1981, whether anyone would think to celebrate the centenary of his arrival at Château Mouton Rothschild.
His question has been answered: the label for Château Mouton Rothschild 2022, illustrated with an original artwork by the French artist Gérard Garouste, is indeed the tribute that Baron Philippe had hoped for.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild took the helm of the estate in 1922, and to celebrate the anniversary of a founding moment in its history, Gérard Garouste, in his own symbolic, phantasmagorical way, has created a sort of heraldic banner for Mouton Rothschild, its front wall framed by a portrait of Baron Philippe and a ram, his well-known emblem.
Gérard Garouste drew his inspiration from conversations with Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild and from the photographs of Baron Philippe he was shown. After playing with various ideas in his sketchbooks, the idea of a portrait of Baron Philippe, accompanied by the symbols of the ram, the front wall and the vine, soon came to the fore. The work took shape as a gouache which he naturally chose to call Hommage au Baron Philippe [Tribute to Baron Philippe].
“It was really my discussions with Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild that inspired me; I wanted to know more about his grandfather’s amazing life. He showed me lots of photos, and the man’s physical presence really spoke to me as a painter. It was clear that I had my model. I was greatly attracted by his character, not least because elegance is something I set great store by. Baron Philippe was a man of great elegance, very hard-working, and he had the look of someone very sure of himself, with a mischievous side. That is what I have tried to capture in the way I have portrayed him.
I find it fascinating that Baron Philippe chose the ram’s head as a symbol, as it features in both Greek and biblical mythology. The front wall is a symbol for Mouton Rothschild. I also included the fruit of the vine, and all the symbolism of a wonderful wine that was his life’s work. I wanted to pay tribute to that story, to his respect for wine, which is also a tribute to nature as it is given to us.” Gérard Garouste
Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild – co-owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, responsible for the estate’s artistic and cultural activity and relations with artists – shares his vision of the work created in tribute to his grandfather:
“Gérard Garouste’s painting can be read like a kind of heraldic banner: it needs to be deciphered. It comprises three very powerful images: the ram, the front wall of Château Mouton Rothschild and the portrait of Baron Philippe.
It all starts with an encounter: that of Baron Philippe with the front wall, which has always been a singular feature of Mouton Rothschild. From that encounter sprang a symbol which expresses and transcends them both: the ram, the dual embodiment of Baron Philippe, whose astrological sign was Aries, and of Mouton Rothschild, reflecting both its name and its vital energy. For me the label tells the story of a metamorphosis.”
Gérard Garouste
A leading French painter, Gérard Garouste is a stand-out figure on the international art scene.
He takes a keen interest in the roots of western culture, the legacy of the old masters and the myths that are the springboard for his work on “dismantling images and words” and his fascination with questions of origins, time and transmission. His paintings are born of associations of ideas; now unsettling, now joyful, they teem with sometimes fantastical animals and human figures with distorted bodies. His sources range from the Old Testament to popular culture and literary greats such as Cervantes and Rabelais.
