Art and Wine

The exhibition Art_and_Wine traces the impact of wine on art over the centuries.

One of the earliest plants cultivated by man, wine played a pivotal role in the social and religious life of classical antiquity. In Ancient Greece and Rome wine was associated with Dionysus/Bacchus, patron of the theatre and guardian deity of law and order - as well as the master of orgiastic festivals. In Christianity, wine forms a seminal part of the celebration of the Eucharist.

Over 100 Objects from the KHM’s different collections illustrate the cultural history of wine. At banquets and symposia it was offered to guests in precious cups and ewers. Craftsmen throughout the ages produced magnificent drinking and serving vessels; these innovative artists made cups from gold, ceramics or elaborately decorated glass, designed unusual shapes, or used materials such as veined wood, amethyst or rhinoceros horn. Drinking games tested a guest’s skills and reactions or made him the victim of crude pranks. All this is documented in “drinking books”.

The exhibition is the fourth in our INTERMEZZO series of in-house exhibitions that run concurrently with “blockbuster” shows. It features objects from the KHM’s collections selected by a team of our curators and arranged in a single gallery to reflect a particular topic or idea.