Smelling Paintings by Fragonard in Paris

by: Miguel Matos

Last saturday, the night in Paris was more alive than ever, for another edition of La Nuit Blanche took place and everywhere in the city there were special events like the one I attended at the Musée du Luxembourg: “Nuit Parfumée”. In this museum, the painter Fragonard was the star now, for there are dozens of his paintings in the exhibition “Fragonard Amoureux”, open until January 24th 2016. For the Nuit Blanche event, the museum stayed open until midnight and 11 student/perfumers from the Grasse Institute of Perfumery were invited to interpret a selection of paintings. The presentation took place in all the rooms of the Fragonard exhibition, only for this night and the amount of visitors was so huge; there was a big queue outside. Inside it was virtually impossible to see and smell everything. Still I had a glimpse of both paintings and fragrances proposed by these perfumers from all around the world.

The list of participant perfumers in the Fragonard exhibition included George Bowler (New Zealand), Fulvio Ciccolo (Italy), Lucas Gracia Grustán (Spain), Elèonore de Stael (France), Flavia Romana Durante (Italy), Kaori Inaba (Japan), Ajit Lomate (India), Renato Lopena (Philippines), Biljana Ridjic (Serbia), Marion Morel (France) and Sarah Weale (France). I was not able to discover all the perfumers for the crowd was immense and some of them were nearly overtaken while giving perfumed strips of paper to the audience and trying to explain their concepts. So here are some of the ones I did see and smell.

L'Aurore Triomphant de la Nuit - 1755-1756

This was the painting chosen for the perfumer Renato Lopena. This work speaks of the light reigning over shadows, morning triumphs over night. Light overcoming the obscure. Renato chose to work on the first hours of the morning and so he imagined that tea notes could symbolize the start of the day. After all it's what most of us drink at breakfast, he explained. To give it a lively effect he added to thetea an accord of magnolia. The result was very simple and not very interesting, but very comfortable and actually wearable.

La Laitière et le Pot au Lait – 1768

This painting is the illustration of a fable by La Fontaine where a peasant is going to sell milk, but instead she lets it fall. Having dreamed she would become rich, she now abandons this wish. The perfumer Marion Morel presented her interpretation of this painting by showing two scents. The first one was a hot milk accord, with hints of butter and caramel, something very sweet and gourmand. This represented themilk. The lost dreams were translated by a jasmine accord and we could smell them together or separately.

Les Débuts du Modèle – 1770-1773

Fulvio Ciccolo worked with Lucas Gracia Grustán on this painting where we see a representation of an artist's studio. We can see here the painter, the model, the girl who is undressing her and the surroundings of canvases and paint. These perfumers presented the best fragrance in the show: a mix of something that smelled like turpentine, castoreum and paint. It represents the atmosphere of the studio, coupled with the feminine spirit of the two sitters. Lucas did the 18th century whorehouse accord evoking the room, the women and the dirt. Fulvio worked on the turpentine note. The fragrance opened with an oil paint accord, woods and turpentine, reminding us of the smell of used brushes. It was supported by powdery notes and an animalic musk. Very strange and at the same time daring and alluring. There was a chemical start and a sexual end that I much enjoyed.

La Chemise Enlevée – 1770

George Bowler went for an obvious composition when trying to depict female nudity and the erotic appeal of naked flesh and dirty sheets: tuberose. But what seemed to be just a floral take on sex starring the carnal queen of flowers showed an animalic undertone. George decided to focus on the lactonic/coconut facet of tuberose to represent Venus' skin. Within minutes the tuberose started to sink while civet and the strong costus root emerged with it's suggestion of the smell of dirty sheets, hair and cheese. How could I not fall for a floral animalic, even if a bit obvious for this image?

L'Île d'Amour – 1770

This lively painting by Fragonard is all about water and joy. A boat ride on a bumpy river. Lucas Gracia Grustán tried to work on watery notes and the effect was a iodine and sea salt accord that felt like the lovechild of Secretions Magnifiques andAqua Motu which is a perfume I absolutely adore. If the fishy side of his olfactive proposal hit me strangely on the first seconds, the aquatic ozonic nature of his composition soon seduced me and made my mouth water. Lucas made me smell the Island of Love with iodic notes, sea salt crystal accord, seaweed absolute,thyme, rosemary, hyssop, drift wood and guaiac, resulting in a fresh, salty, savoury and invigorating scent.

L'Adoration des Bergers – 1775-1776

The biblical episode of the three wise men was painted by Fragonard and scented by Ajit Lomate. He centered his composition on the gifts the three wise men brought to Jesus: Gold, Incense, Myrrh. So the perfume included, of course, Incense and Myrrh, but gold itself has no smell. Ajit created a concept instead. What are the gold accords in perfumery? According to him sandalwood,amber and rose are gold. And here was the key to the scent. The result was a traditional oriental, full-bodied and warm fragrance. Not groundbreaking but I would wear it.