Freud Paints $795 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Label With Zebra
Lucian Freud’s latest work, a playful painting of a zebra’s head sniffing a small potted palm tree, isn’t up for auction. It’s the wine label for the 2006 Chateau Mouton Rothschild arriving this spring.
“I’ve been waiting to have a painting by Lucian, so when he said he’d do one, I said, OK, 2006,” Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, owner of the privately-held Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, said in an interview in Miami.
The British artist, known for somber nude portraits of his subjects, is the 59th contributor of an original painting for the wine’s label. The baroness unveiled the artwork on Feb. 20 in Miami during the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
“It seems to have absolutely nothing to do with Mouton, and I like that,” she said of Freud’s creation.
The baroness each year commissions an artist to participate, continuing a tradition started in 1945 by her father, who named his wine-growing business in the Bordeaux region of France after himself. Past artists include Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Marc Chagall.
Freud holds the record for the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction. His 1995 painting, “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” fetched $33.6 million last year at Christie’s International.
For his painting, Freud (the grandson of psychiatrist Sigmund) will receive five cases of the 2006 Mouton -- artists receive wine from their year -- and five cases of other vintages.
“Lucian is 86,” said the lively, silver-haired baroness. “It would be nice if he could have some older vintages to drink now.”
Spring Sales
The 2006 vintage will start appearing in stores this spring, and critic Robert Parker anticipates the wine will reach maturity after 2018. Bottles currently cost $795 each, a price based on pre-purchase with a futures contract, said Chris Adams, executive vice president of Manhattan wine store Sherry-Lehmann. The price will fluctuate as bottles arrive at retailers.
Although poster artist Jean Carlu was the first to design Mouton’s label in 1924, the concept was launched annually in 1945, when French illustrator Philippe Jullian produced the label.
Parker predicts that Mouton’s 2006 vintage will be the vintner’s finest in 20 years. It’s unclear whether combining art and wine will produce more sales.
“People have been trying for 50 years to quantify the value of the labels,” said the baroness, who is a descendent of the Rothschild banking family. “It just happens that the labels are a plus. If the wine was bad people wouldn’t buy it because of the label.”
The original paintings, some as small as the top of a wine label and others as big as a poster, are on display through March 8 at Wolfsonian-Florida International University, a contemporary- design museum in Miami.
To contact the writer on the story: Sara Pepitone in New York at
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