ORNELLAIA VENDEMMIA D’ARTISTA 2017 “SOLARE” AUCTION RESULTS
THE AMOUNT OF $315.000 WILL BE DONATED TO THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION IN NEW YORK IN SUPPORT OF
Bolgheri, 10 September 2020 – Yesterday evening, Marchese Ferdinando Frescobaldi, President of the prestigious Bolgheri winery Ornellaia, and Giovanni Geddes, CEO, personally handed a cheque for $315.000 to Karole Vail, Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The donation was possible thanks to the Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2017 “Solare” edition and sales of the prized limited-edition bottles designed by artist Tomás Saraceno.
For the last twelve years, Ornellaia has been furthering the Vendemmia d’Artista project, which supports foundations and museums around the world through the union of art and wine. Since last year, thanks to a collaboration with the Guggenheim, it has raised funds to support an equally innovative initiative: the Mind’s Eye program at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
The “Mind’s Eye” program was created by the Guggenheim’s Education Department to gift the joy of art to visitors who are blind or have low vision. The appreciation of art, like wine, involves all the senses. This was the idea that inspired Ornellaia to donate the profits from the annual Vendemmia d’Artista auction to this program.
Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja, CEO of Ornellaia, commented: “The huge success that the Mind’s Eye program is having, also thanks to our donations, fills us with pride, especially when we observe how the same model can extend not only to other museums belonging to the Guggenheim Foundation, but also to other art institutions in the rest of the world, ensuring that this excellence continues to guide museum programming for the blind and persons with low vision. And to all people across the world.”
At the end of the auction, which was held online by Sotheby’s from 1 to 9 September, Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation said: “Through the continued support of Ornellaia, the Guggenheim has been able to offer greater access to our programming and to deepen audience engagement. We extend our gratitude to Ornellaia for recognizing the importance of programs such as Mind’s Eye and for their generosity.”
Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2017 “Solare”
The Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista project celebrates and describes the character of every new vintage of Ornellaia. Every year, starting with the release of Ornellaia 2006, a contemporary artist crafts a site-specific artwork and a set of limited-edition labels, inspired by a word chosen by the estate director, Axel Heinz, to describe the vintage.
“Solare” (radiant in English) is the epithet chosen by Axel Heinz to describe the 2017 vintage of this wine: “It was a year of extremes, in which sun and heat played a decisive role. By adapting to the conditions with more precise and flexible practices, we succeeded in voicing the bold personality of this vintage.”
Based on the descriptor, Tomás Saraceno gave his interpretation of Ornellaia 2017 Solare. The artist sought inspiration in the alliance between the Sun and populated systems of life, inviting greater care and attention to the most important source of our planet’s energy; the Sun, which is depicted in the evolution of an eclipse. The issue of sustainability is explored through floating spheres such as “PNEUMA 4.21×105”, the sculpture that tops the Salmanazar, and the special thermodynamic labels, which like the ecosystems in which we live, are heat sensitive.
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