At a pop-up art gallery in the heart of Milan earlier this week, the room was aglow with natural light from a greenhouse-like rooftop, with floors and walls painted in various complementary shades of yellow. Here, Veuve Clicquot debuted “Emotions of the Sun,” a new photographic exhibition presented in conjunction with Salone del Mobile. For the ephemeral exhibition, the French champagne maison partnered with international photo agency Magnum Photos, who proposed eight contemporary photographers and provided them with Veuve Clicquot’s simple brief: capture emotions that the sun inspires in them. Each depiction reflects something quietly familiar, from the complex sensation we all feel with the last days of summer sun to the sense of playfulness or wanderlust the sun fosters.
It’s the first time Veuve Clicquot has orchestrated a photographic exhibition—and their commission has resulted in 40 new works drawn from eight countries, across five continents. “The idea was to bring together a diversity of photographic voices and a diversity of emotions,” says Pauline Vermare, the New York-based independent curator who oversaw the exhibition. “If you’re in the middle of the show you realize that you’ve already passed through a range of emotions—hope, joy, respite. The photographers know what they want to convey. My role as a curator was to select five images per photographer and determine how they interconnect in the greater story.” The talent includes the likes of Olivia Arthur, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Cristina de Middel, Nanna Heitmann, Steve McCurry, and Alex Webb, but Vermare chose Trent Parke’s images to close the show: Presenting the sun as a clock, it alludes to the cycle of renewal promised by a dramatic sunset.
One of the five images from each of the artists was also printed onto fabric and suspended from the center of the exhibit. “This was to allow viewers to be taken in, and to play with the light above,” Vermare adds. “A show like this must bring the hope and joy and respite that I mentioned and as each image intends. The beauty of photography is that it allows you to realize that.”
One of the stand-out contributors, London-based photographer Olivia Arthur—who photographed Billie Piper for British Vogue’s April 2024 issue—conveyed the sun’s spirit through a blend of abstract figurative imagery and still lives. Every photograph suggests movement—even one that’s simply a shadow on golden straw. “I spend my summers in France with my family. For me, interpreting this brief was about this period, when we take time off to relax and properly recharge,” Arthur says, noting that she tried to capture the feeling she and her family felt toward the end of their summer together.
“In my practice, I’m often trying to capture a feeling more so than what’s actually there in front of the camera. There’s an essence, an emotion. It’s the energy you get from the sun and living in the sun over the summer period, which allows you to feel freer,” she continues. “It’s hard to describe at what point you get that feeling in a picture, beyond what’s in the image itself. To bring it out, I photograph around and then produce very basic prints and put them onto the wall to try to build the story. This isn’t a work about a single image. It’s about a series and creating a relationship between several images. The idea is for the viewer to be able to project their own feelings into all of it.”
Constance Guisset, a Paris-based interior designer and scenographer, developed the temporary gallery over the past few months. Veuve Clicquot approached her last year having already secured the space, which was erected in a verdant garden on Via Senato. Not only did Guisset imagine a home for the art, but she also designed the neighboring Sun in Your Plate Café: an artistic, culinary exploration with a menu highlighting new dishes by chefs Jean Imbert, Karime Lopez, Valentino Rizzo, and Mory Sacko.
“The maison asked me how I could bring to life the spirit of the sun in a delicate way. I tried to do so softly, considering the artists’ work, to make an atmosphere that brought the very light and warmth of the sun into the space,” Guisset says. To explain the balance of the various yellow hues at play in the gallery, Guisset references the painting technique of camaïeu. “You can bring colors together to develop a type of impressionism,” she says. “When you have one color, it can be too strong for a space. If you want to add subtlety and delicacy, you can temper that one color with others like it—like in a landscape.”
As for why the champagne brand chose to establish a photo exhibition in Milan for Salone del Mobile? “The very first bottle of Veuve Clicquot that was shipped outside of France—in the year of the maison’s founding in 1772—was sent to Venice,” explains CEO Jean-Marc Gallot. “The link between Veuve Clicquot and Italy has been 252 years. Of course, there’s also the long history of art and design partnerships with our brand, from Paola Paronetto to Andree Putman.”
After Milan Design Week, “Emotions of the Sun” will make its way to New York City in June, where it will inhabit a new outdoor pop-up gallery featuring a restaurant, terrace, and—naturally—bottles of Veuve Clicquot. It may be the house’s first-ever photography exhibition, but they’re only getting started.
