By Bob Lipinski

One of the most fascinating aspects of Château Mouton Roth­schild bottles is the artwork on the label. Every year Baron Philippe de Rothschild commissions a famous artist to design the upper portion of Mouton’s label. The tradition began in 1927 (with the 1924 vintage); but the practice did not become regular until 1945.

The world-renowned artists who design the labels are not paid in money; rather, they receive five cases of good years of Mouton, ready to drink when the design is delivered, and five cases of the vintage it was created for when the vintage is marketed.

These artists have been commissioned to paint labels for Château Mouton Rothschild:

• 1924—Jean Carlu
• 1945—Philippe Jullian
• 1946—Jean Hugo
• 1947—Jean Cocteau
• 1948—Marie Laurencin
• 1949—André Dignimont
• 1950—Georges Arnulf
• 1951—Marcel Vertès
• 1952—Léonor Fini
• 1953—No illustrated label
• 1954—Jean Carzou
• 1955—Georges Braque
• 1956—Pavel Tchelitchew
• 1957—André Masson
• 1958—Salvador Dali
• 1959—Richard Lippold
• 1960—Jacques Villon
• 1961—Georges Mathieu
• 1962—Roberto “Matta” Echaurren
• 1963—Bernard Dufour
• 1964—Henry Moore
• 1965—Dorothea Tanning
• 1966—Pierre Alechinsky
• 1967—César
• 1968—Bona
• 1969—Joan Miró
• 1970—Marc Chagall
• 1971—Wassily Kandinsky
• 1972—Serge Poliakoff
• 1973—Pablo Picasso
• 1974—Robert Motherwell
• 1975—Andy Warhol
• 1976—Pierre Soulages
• 1977—Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (commemorative label)
• 1978—Jean-Paul Riopelle
• 1979—Hisao Domoto
• 1980—Hans Hartung
• 1981—Arman Fernandez
• 1982—John Huston
• 1983—Saul Steinberg
• 1984—Yaacov Agam
• 1985—Paul Delvaux
• 1986—Bernard Séjourné
• 1987—Hans Erni
• 1988—Keith Haring
• 1989—Georg Baselitz
• 1990—Francis Bacon
• 1991—Setsuko
• 1992—Per Kirkeby
• 1993—Count Balthazar “Balthus” Klossowski de Rola **
• 1994—Karel Appel
• 1995—Antoni Tàpies
• 1996—Gu Gan
• 1997—Niki de Saint Phalle
• 1998—Rufino Tamayo
• 1999—Raymond Savignac
• 2000—The Little Augsburg Lamb
• 2001—Robert Wilson
• 2002—Ilya Kabakov
• 2003—A 150th Birthday Tribute
• 2004—Prince Charles
• 2005—Giuseppe Penone
• 2006—Lucian Freud
• 2007—Bernar Venet
• 2008—Xu Lei
• 2009—Anish Kapoor
• 2010—Jeff Koons
• 2011—Guy de Rougemont
• 2012—Miquel Barceló
• 2013—Lee Ufan
• 2014—David Hockney
• 2015—Gerhard Richter
• 2016—William Kentridge
• 2017—Annette Messager
• 2018—Xu Bing
• 2019—Olafur Eliasson
• 2020—Peter Doig
• 2021—Chiharu Shiota

(No label was commissioned in 1953, because both the wine and label in that year were dedicated to Mouton’s first three Roth­schild owners to commemorate its centenary.)

** On February 29, 1996, Mouton Rothschild withdrew its 1993 artist label responding to accusations that a nude drawing exploited adolescent sexuality. The label featured a pencil drawing of a nude reclining nymphet on the label. It was created by Polish-French painter Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, 1908-2001). Mouton withdrew the label and substituted a blank label instead where the image should have been and both versions are sought after by collectors.

Bob Lipinski is the author of 10 books, including “101: Everything You Need To Know About Whiskey” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple” (available on Amazon.com). He conducts training seminars on Wine, Spirits, and Food and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached at www.boblipinski.com OR bkjm@hotmail.com