Chess Museum Receives Wine From Art Russe Collection

The RCF Chess Museum has received as a gift from the Director of the French Winery Chateau La Grace Dieu des Prieurs Monsieur Laurent Prosperi a special bottle from the collection of Art Russe Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2015.

The label of the bottle is adorned with a painting by Mai Dantsig titled Worry and painted in 1971. The central feature of the painting which attracts the viewer is a chess board. The painting depicts a moment when soldiers left a room due to an alarm without finishing their game of chess or their newspapers.

The painting is among the collection of the Art Russe Foundation, which possesses the largest collection of the Russian art and sculpture of 1917-1991.

In May 2017, a partnership was announced between Chateau La Grace Dieu des Prieurs and Art Russe Foundation. According to the agreement, the Foundation permitted the use of the Art Russe brand and the images of paintings on the labels of the Grand Cru wines. Each year, the Chateau produces a collection of 12 exceptional paintings by Russian and Soviet artists on the wine labels. The Art Russe project united the arts of French winemaking and Russian painting.

The vineyard of La Grace Dieu des Prieurs is located in one of France’s most historic winemaking areas: in the Grand Cru vines of Saint-Emilion, which was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in 1999. La Grace Dieu des Prieurs was founded in 1885 and today it is surrounded by chateaus such as Figeac, La Dominique and Cheval Blanc. Saint-Emilion wines are thought to be among the finest in the world. In 2014-2017, the Chateau underwent an immense restoration designed to preserve the traditions of French winemaking while combining them with modern innovations, in order to achieve the highest level of wine. To improve this process, the Chateau invited a celebrated oenologist consultant Louis Mitjavile. The architectural aspect of the Chateau was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel.

The Art Russe Foundation has amassed the largest collection of the Russian art of the end in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries since its inception in 2012. The promotion of the Russian art is one of the main missions of the Foundation.