Wine comes in a thousand shades of colour, shaped by grape variety, vintage and time in the glass. Pour a glass and pause a moment longer than usual: there is a whole world in that colour.
The painter Elisabetta Rogai was so struck by the glow of those reds that she invented EnoArte, a technique for painting with wine. A EnoArte work keeps changing colour over time, ageing on the canvas the way a fine wine ages in the barrel — without ever fading.
Wine and Art
The silk drappellone for the Palio of Siena
Rogai's fame earned her the commission to paint the silk drappellone of the 2015 Palio of Siena, using a palette made entirely of wines from the Siena area. At the top, the Assumption Madonna wears a halo of ears of corn; at the centre, Piazza del Campo unfolds in a 360-degree view with a child playing across it; lower down, two horses gallop in the foreground. Gold lettering runs around the whole square: "Love justice, you who rule the earth." The painting carries the pathos of the theme chosen by the Municipality for that year, "Siena World Earth."
Elisabetta Rogai's paintings are often populated by women of timeless charm. Their colours follow the wines she uses: ruby red and purple for a young wine, amber, brick and orange for older ones.
Works and wines
Five paintings, five wines
Divine Senses (70x100 cm, 2012) is painted with Sangiovese and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
The Offer (70x100 cm, 2011) uses Sangiovese, Cabernet and Shyrah.
The Tasting (70x100 cm, 2011) is painted with Sangiovese and Merlot.
The Courage (60x80 cm, 2012) is painted with Merlot and Shyrah.
Sit down for a wine tasting in Tuscany and you notice the same shift in colour: young Chianti and Chianti Classico run bright red, while Brunello and Super Tuscan deepen into darker tones — fragrance, flavour and colour all changing together. It is that same palette the Florentine artist carried onto canvas and silk, turning it into an art form all her own.
