The Prado Museum in Madrid has recreated the fragrances of some of the items seen in ‘The Sense of Smell’, a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens
‘The Sense of Smell’ by Brueghel and his friend Rubens is the focus of the Prado Museum’s new sensory exhibition, titled ‘The Essence of Painting. An Olfactory Exhibition’.
Alejandro Vergara, the Prado Museum’s head curator of Flemish painting, worked with Gregorio Sola, senior perfumer at Puig and academician of the Perfume Academy, to recreate 10 fragrances associated with the painting.
The artwork depicts more than 80 plants and flowers, as well as animals with a strong sense of smell, including the scent hound, civet and guinea pig. It also features items related to perfumery, such as scened gloves and vessels for distilling essences.
“I think it’s a really nice visit to a museum – in 45 minutes you look at five beautiful paintings and connect with this idea that you’re not expecting: the smell of the past,” Vergara told the Guardian.
‘The Essence of Painting. An Olfactory Exhibition’
“Our olfactory memory is stronger than our visual or auditory memory: the memory of our mother’s perfume, of our first kiss, of our first car, or of the first day at school with the smell of new pencils and paints,” Sola added.
Visitors can sample the perfumes from four diffusers in Room 83 of the Prado Museum. ‘The Essence of a Painting. An Olfactory Exhibition’ utilises the AirParfum technology developed by Puig.
Guests will enjoy fragrances including rose, orange blossom, jasmine, fig tree, iris, daffodil and gloves scented with ambergris.
‘The Sense of Smell’Â is part of a series of works about the five senses executed betwen 1617 and 1618 by Brueghel and Rubens, who represented the five senses as allegorical female figures.
Museums are introducing scent, touch and other elements to offer an immersive visit. The Mauritshuis put on an exhibition where visitors could smell the artworks.
The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven also opened a multi-sensory exhibition featuring artworks that could be seen, touched, heard and smelled.
Images: Prado Museum
