In Düsseldorf, a museum exhibition of scents combines perfumes with art and history

Dusseldorf, Germany, Nov. 2 - Have you ever wondered what war smells like or what love smells like? Ever wondered what medieval Paris smelled like? A new exhibition in Germany is allowing visitors to explore the unexplored world of scents through 81 different scents spread across 37 gallery spaces, the Associated Press reports. The exhibition, titled The Secret Power of Scents, which opened to the public on Wednesday at the Kunstpalast museum in western Düsseldorf, connects scents with art and invites visitors on a journey through more than a thousand years of cultural history.

“This exhibition is both an experiment and an invitation for our visitors to discover the history of scents with their noses,” said Felix Krämer, the museum’s director. The exhibition is arranged chronologically, from religious artifacts from the Middle Ages to contemporary art from the 21st century. Each gallery is equipped with incense sticks, diffusers, and diffusers, creating a connection between art and the scent of a particular era or culture.

The scent of myrrh wafts through a darkened gallery of Christian woodcuts depicting various scenes from the Bible. Christianity, but also Judaism and Islam, have used myrrh as a symbol of prayer and purification, the exhibition explains.

Smell evokes emotional responses more strongly than any other sense. So it’s no surprise that visitors feel fear when they press a button in the gallery dedicated to World War I. A diffuser in this section of the exhibition releases a scent created by combining the pungent smell of gunpowder with the metallic odor of blood and sulfur. “Anyone who has ever experienced war, conventional war, will hate it, because you can really feel the brutality of it here,” said Robert Müller-Grünow, the exhibition’s curator and a leading expert on scent. “It’s the first exhibition in the world to bring scents to a museum in this form, format and scale,” Müller-Grünow added.

At the other end of the olfactory spectrum is the 1610 painting Venus and Adonis by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, which depicts a pair of lovers. “This room is dedicated to passion and emotion,” Müller-Grünow explained. He added that the scents wafting through the space are primarily influenced by roses and the scent of civet, whose scent was considered erotic in the 17th century. However, the scent of civet makes today’s visitors turn up their noses in disgust.

Some of the scents are also associated with different historical periods. For example, after pressing a button that releases the scent of medieval Paris, some people felt suffocated as they inhaled a mixture of sewage, mold and unwashed bodies. On the other hand, in the gallery dedicated to the Roaring Twenties, there is an oil painting by Gert Wollheim from 1924. Farewell from Düsseldorf celebrates the emancipation of women, who at that time began to wear bold lipstick, cut their hair short and smoke cigarettes in public. The room is filled with the uplifting scent of tobacco, vanilla and leather. This blend refers to famous early perfumes, such as the historic Tabac Blond, launched by the perfume brand Caron in 1919.

In the section dedicated to modern art, the museum presents more contemporary fragrances among works by Andy Warhol, Yves Klein and Günther Uecker, which remind visitors of world-famous brands such as Coca-Cola. In addition to the use of fragrances in marketing, the museum also shows the role of modern fragrances, such as the Iso E Super fragrance molecule, which is said to increase the attractiveness of those who use it. “It’s a scent that’s reminiscent of cedarwood, but it has something velvety and leathery about it,” the curator said. “It smells very human, warm and inviting,” he added.

The 81 different scents opened up a whole new world for visitors, said museum visitor Kirsten Gnoth. “I’ve been to the exhibition before, but now it’s a whole new experience with the scents that match the paintings and the historical context,” she said. “It’s exciting to combine art with scents,” Gnoth concluded. The exhibition runs until March 8 next year.

AP, Reuters

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