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Dom Pérignon's Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat: Heritage and Renewal

With a special edition of the Vintage 2015, Dom Pérignon pays tribute to an artist deeply rooted in his origins, who formed one of the most iconic and powerful artistic expressions of our time: Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The complexity found in Basquiat’s work and Dom Pérignon’s wines represents a convergence between the aesthetic ideal of Dom Pérignon and Basquiat’s ars creativa. In both cases, the creative act that gives tangible existence to the aesthetic vision always demonstrates its ability to resolve the apparent paradox of opposites. This tribute embodies the spirit of innovation, heritage, and renewal, celebrating the meeting of two worlds.

The Art of Assemblage

For this tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dom Pérignon chose a work by the artist that is as meaningful as it is enigmatic, In Italian (1983). Although the meaning of the work In Italian remains a mystery, it carries an emotional intensity that is not unrelated to the resonance between Basquiat’s vision and that of Dom Pérignon. In Basquiat’s work, as in Dom Pérignon’s vision, the assemblage is a key element for the intensity of the aesthetic experience.

For the painting In Italian, the assemblage of materials and the successive pictorial interventions that hide each other until what was originally painted becomes indecipherable, opens the way to potentially infinite layers of meaning and multiple emotional configurations for the observer. As for Dom Pérignon, the tension between the different characteristics of the original wines creates an extraordinarily rich alliance of meanings, without ever erasing the trace of the original matter. This art of assemblage is reflected in the special edition, with three unique coffrets, each showcasing parts of Basquiat's masterpiece as a tribute to this creative process.

The Symbol Of Two Myths

For this Special Edition, the resonance between Dom Pérignon and the universe of Jean-Michel Basquiat is symbolized by a graphic and conceptual tête-à-tête that superimposes the shield, emblem of the Maison, and the three-branched crown, statement, and signature of the New York artist.

The Dom Pérignon shield testifies both to the attachment to the original territory of Hautvillers and to the unyielding ambition of Dom Pérignon to assert its uniqueness. An icon of Basquiat’s work, the crown is a symbol of power. Basquiat uses the crown to elevate the subjects of his paintings, but also to comment on power dynamics presented in his work.

Much more than two simple symbols, this visual creation embodies the meeting between two stories and two identities.

A Special Edition Tasting Set

Dom Pérignon’s tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat takes the form of a special edition of 2015 Vintage coffrets.

The design of these coffrets was imagined according to the principle of assemblage, dear to both Dom Pérignon and Basquiat as previously mentioned. The series includes three different boxes, each depicting a part of Basquiat’s painting, which can be reassembled by bringing the coffrets together. A true seal to this tribute, the label on the bottles, also created in three color variants, bears the hybrid emblem of the three-branched crown superimposed on the shield.

The treatment of the shield-emblem on the box and the bottle creates an interaction between the exterior and the interior that makes the unveiling of the Vintage 2015 even more special. On the outside, Dom Pérignon takes the lead. The label remains intact, simply enhanced by the three-branched crown superimposed along the crest of the shield-emblem. Inside, on the bottle, the aesthetics of the painting dominates, and the label is entirely overrun by the brilliant camaïeu of its colors and the painted crown, giving free rein to emotion and announcing the intensity of the tasting.

"The greatest treasures in the world are art. They are the most lasting; they are still here after people."

—Jean-Michel Basquiat