Welcome to the Veuve Clicquot "Solaire Culture" exhibition! For the Maison's 250th year, we wished to share the joy and optimism of Veuve Clicquot, symbolized by this warm yellow, the color of the rising sun and of its iconic label! I’m Camille Morineau, the curator of the exhibition, and I’ll be your guide. With this immersive exhibition we wanted to tell the story of this unique Champagne House in a new way – through color, through art, through sound, even through taste, as well as through historical archives. In tribute to Madame Clicquot and her pioneering spirit, we have made this a 100% feminine exhibition, including original commissions from 10 living women artists. Let’s move on to the first room, where you will learn more about this extraordinary woman.

The brand Maison Clicquot was founded in Reims, north-east France, 250 years ago by Philippe Clicquot. But it was his daughter-in-law, Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who built it up into the prestigious Champagne Maison we know today. Seven years into her marriage, in 1805, this young mother was widowed. Against her father-in-law's wishes, and defying the role of women at the time, she took on the management of the company, renaming it for herself: Veuve, which means Widow, Clicquot. Although there is only one portrait of Madame Clicquot from her lifetime, she left a remarkable archive of letters, which were used by the three women artists commissioned specially for this exhibition to imagine a young Madame Clicquot. Using this audio guide, you can hear them talk about their work in their own words.

Madame Clicquot, la grande dame of Champagne, was 84 years old when she was painted by Léon Cogniet in 1860. In the painting you can see a woman of achievement, comfortable in her own skin, with a determined mouth and a rather piercing stare. In 2006, Yayoi Kusama brought the portrait to life in her own iconic style. With her trademark polka dots bubbling over from the canvas to the frame itself, Kusama expresses the effervescence of champagne, and of this audacious woman who never ceased to break the boundaries and to innovate.

French artist Inès Longevial applied the techniques she uses for her intimate self-portraits to an imaginary portrait of the young Madame Clicquot. By going very close up and excluding part of the face, she takes us straight to the gaze of her subject, expressing the young woman’s enquiring mind, her intelligence, even a hint of defiance. The artist told us: “I wanted to give her a rather mysterious expression, something quite sensual. With this Clicquot yellow I really wanted to talk about light, the sun, the setting sun, even. […] For this portrait I’ve chosen a very, very soft canvas, a very fine linen that reminds you of velvet, to talk a bit about caresses, too.”

Cece Philips uses color to explore the relationship between women and power. Inspired by the work of a French female portraitist from Madame Clicquot’s day, she chose to show her subject as an active businesswoman, writing the letter that you will see in the next room, where she expresses her optimism despite setbacks. The artist told us: “The colors were quite deliberate. One part of her life that really interested me was the earlier part that she referred to, where she had a lot of hope and ambition for the company.”

Rosie McGuinness comes from a fashion drawing background. In her striking portrait, which leaves us free to imagine the face of Madame Clicquot, the clothes and the stance – relaxed but dynamic – do the talking. In Rosie’s words: “So, the black obviously represents the context that she found herself in, in her life. She was widowed at such a young age. She was obviously a very active woman, a proactive woman, who got on with the matters in hand, so I thought that her having pockets in the dress was appropriate.”

Many elements from the archives of Veuve Clicquot have left Reims for the first time for this traveling exhibition. Dating from August 1772, the year in which Maison Clicquot was founded, this ledger book in the hands of Philippe Clicquot shows the first shipment of Clicquot champagne, to a client in Venice. Philippe Clicquot's main business at the time was as a trader in textiles, as the color swatches at the top of the page attest.

Madame Clicquot was a prolific letter-writer, even by the standards of the day. In this letter to her cousin, Mademoiselle Letertre, written when she was 36, she expresses her zest for the challenges of business, her optimism, and her feminist spirit, projecting a future in which neither of them need be dependent on any man. She says : “Remember at this time last year how despondent I was at not doing anything? Well, all these setbacks led to the good deals I’ve already done, and, hopefully, will do again. Perhaps a good dose of happiness awaits you, too. You can’t be unhappy forever, as experience has shown me, and so, my dear friend, have courage, patience, acceptance."

What is a vintage champagne? Quite simply, it is a champagne made from the grapes of a single harvest, from the year that is shown on the label. Only made in exceptional years, vintages have a distinctive character that matures with age. Until Madame Clicquot’s time, all champagnes were a blend of wines from different years, but when the 1810 harvest proved good enough she upped the stakes, creating the first vintage champagne in history! Reading from right to left, Japanese manga artist Moyoco Anno tells the story, creating an enchanting picture of the young widow Clicquot.

It is hard to believe today, but until Madame Clicquot invented the first blended rosé champagne in 1818, rosé champagne was just white champagne tinted with an elderberry concoction. Madame Clicquot was not satisfied with this method or its potential effects on the taste of the wine. By blending white wines with red wines from her beloved Bouzy vineyards, Madame Clicquot created the fine rosés that have become a trademark of Veuve Clicquot. In this frieze, comic book artist Penelope Bagieu appropriated the action of blending, using it in two ways to create her work. She told us: "I knew that I wanted to play with inks, and with inks that blend, because there is something quite beautiful, a random aspect, the colors appear to drink each other."

The riddling table was perhaps Madame Clicquot's most revolutionary innovation. It is used to twist and tilt the champagne bottles, causing the lees to gather in the neck, from which they can be expelled without losing any of the wine or its effervescence. Olimpia Zagnoli chose to express this breakthrough in a large format graphic work with a nod to pop art. Its repeated motifs combine the shape of the riddling table, the rhythmical process of riddling, the energy of champagne bubbles, and the constant invention and reinvention of Madame Clicquot. And now, test your turning skills on a riddling rack from the Veuve Clicquot cellars in Reims, a direct descendant of Madame Clicquot’s riddling table!

When Madame Clicquot began her career, champagne bottles did not carry labels. She was initially against using them, considering the brand on the cork sufficient, but her American customers persuaded her otherwise. Madame Clicquot was quite cautious about protecting the intellectual property of the House. The custom of labeling had taken off in the US and American customers feared these bottles may not be the genuine article. The yellow label was introduced by her successor, Edouard Werlé, in 1874, and trademarked in February 1877. It was designed to mark out the dryer style of champagne favored by the British from the sweet, or doux, champagne. Remaining true to Madame Clicquot's pared-down aesthetic, this icon has changed very little in almost 150 years. Here you can see its evolution.... spot the difference!

The wine bottle displayed in front of you is an 1840s bottle that lay at the bottom of the Baltic Sea amid a shipwreck for more than 160 years before divers recovered it in 2010. It remained drinkable and was found to be much sweeter than today's champagnes, suggesting that the shipment was destined for Russia. The comet branding on the cork revealed without any doubt that this was Veuve Clicquot champagne. A circular letter to clients also displayed here announces this change to the branding. In the day, champagne corks were tied on with jute cord and were left uncovered, so the comet symbol sent a clear message to consumers.

Among the stellar designers who have collaborated with Veuve Clicquot on one-off pieces is Andrée Putman, the designer of the iconoclastic Morgans Hotel in New York. Inspired by Madame Clicquot's spirit of innovation, she created for Veuve Clicquot her version of the riddling table, a piece where, in her own words, "you can enjoy a glass of chilled champagne around a table filled with holes!"

Karim Rashid is one of the world's most prolific designers, and yet each piece by him fizzes with originality. For Veuve Clicquot he designed this Loveseat, like two petals that enfold the amorous in an intimate space, with an ice bucket like a pistil at the center. The equally romantic Globalight is based on the idea of a candelabra, a nomadic nest for a bottle of Veuve Clicquot that keeps it chilled and casts a soft glow. Both pieces rework an 18th-century object as a modern marvel.

In front of you is a collection of our iconic isothermal Ice Jackets. Originally created for the House in 2004, the Ice Jacket was inspired by divers’ wetsuits. To celebrate Veuve Clicquot’s 250th anniversary, it has been redesigned in an eco-version by students at London's Central St Martin's school of art using 3-D knitting and 100% recycled plastic. The new Ice Jacket forms part of a quartet of sustainable reeditions of Clicquot Icons, along with the Clicquot Fridge, the Clicquot Arrow to our right, and the Ice Box in the beach section to the left. All four Icons are available in the exhibition boutique.

Considered today to be the most successful living woman artist, Yayoi Kusama has much in common with another grande dame, Madame Clicquot. A pioneer, an iconoclast, and an entrepreneur, she too rebelled against her family’s expectations to forge her career. In 2020, to celebrate La Grande Dame vintage 2012, she created this outrageous and extravagant sculpture expressing joy and optimism, and wrote the poem displayed next to it. Put your ear to the listening pod to hear Ms Kusama read the poem in her native language of Japanese.

In 2008 and 2009, two icons came together for a sleek and stylish collaboration. Riva used its marine architecture techniques and the same materials as the Aquariva speedboat – black lacquer, varnished mahogany, chrome and leather – to produce a trio of exclusive objects for La Grande Dame 1998. The Cruiser Bag contains a bottle of La Grande Dame and two champagne flutes, while the Cruise Collection bar is a chest of treasures that opens to reveal 4 bottles of La Grande Dame, Riedel champagne flutes, table settings and an ice bucket. They are joined by an ice bucket that resembles the prow of the Aquariva.

Welcome to Veuve’s Clicquot’s chalk cellars, known as the “crayères”. These unique and awe-inspiring caverns, 22 yards underground, were carved out from the 12th to the 14th centuries to extract chalk for building. Today, this is where the wines slowly mature in the constant temperature and humidity that makes the crayères ideal for this purpose. The labyrinth of cellars runs to an incredible 15 miles beneath the city of Reims. Only just over a mile of this is open to the public. In the rest, the careful work of elaboration takes place, and time works its magic. An important part of the Maison’s heritage, the crayères are now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Just like visitors to the crayères in Reims, we invite you to leave the cellars via a majestic staircase known as the Escalier des Millesimes – the Staircase of Vintages. Each of its stone steps commemorates one of Veuve Clicquot’s 67 vintages, a journey through time, history and climatic changes. Let’s climb and let me introduce three essential years in the Maison’s Vintage history.... 1811 is perhaps Veuve Clicquot’s most legendary vintage, named after the comet seen in the sky that year, to which the wine-growers ascribed the exceptional harvest. It changed the fortunes of Veuve Clicquot. In 1915, the “heroic” vintage, as it was known, was created during the First World War, which heavily affected the champagne region. Finally, 1962 was the year of the first La Grande Dame vintage. La Grande Dame is the champagne with the highest percentage of Pinot Noir, which was Madame Clicquot’s favorite grape variety.

Monique Frydman is a French painter, and most of all a colorist, working in the abstract but in the tradition of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Bonnard and Gauguin, for whom color was primordial. For this commission, In the Tangerine Space - Euphoria of Colors, she departs from the canvas to create a total experience, a pavilion of tarlatan fabric dyed with pure pigments in which one steps into the color, becomes yellow. She says "Every color releases an energy, it's beyond our understanding. I want this installation to be an immersion in color that takes us as high as color can take us in painting."

Sheila Hicks was born in Nebraska and studied at Yale School of Art with Josef and Anni Albers. She has long incorporated weaving into her practice and has traveled five continents exploring indigenous weaving practices, including a period living in Mexico. For her color has a texture: in this sculpture, Joyful Interlude Ensemble, in linen, coconut fiber and threads, the sun floods the room in a symphony of yellows created with pure pigment dyes.

From the Belle Epoque to the present day, Veuve Clicquot has called on the finest creative talents. Rather than highlight a particular champagne or an art of living, the House offers an audacious and at times irreverent, even quirky, vision of a brand that embodies French excellence. From an urbane 1930s gentleman imagined by artist Lemu to an invitation to take a simple post-show hamburger to the next level with a vintage champagne, Veuve Clicquot cultivates the art of being different. Originally published in The New Yorker magazine in 1964, this burger was re-invented with a modern twist and Yellow Label pairing, which you will be able to taste in the Yellow Café.