Buly 1803 and the Louvre have collaborated on an art-inspired fragrance collection

French parfumier Buly 1803 is known for creating some rather unusual products (past releases include perfumed matches and scented rocks), and yet again, the fragrance house has reinterpreted the meaning of scent.

The owner of the fragrance house, Ramdane Touhami has enlisted the help of eight of the fragrance industry’s most prolific noses to interpret eight of the Louvre museum’s greatest works.

The collaboration with the Louvre took a year to complete and will include perfumes, postcards, candles and scented soap sheets.

Touhami revealed to The Wall Street Journal why he had the impulse to create such a collection in the first place: “I love the idea that someone could say, ‘Oh I wear Venus de Milo’, or ‘I wear The Valpinçon Bather’, or ‘The Lock’. In my dream, in 20 years, you will go to the museum and see a Fragonard painting and say, ‘I wore a perfume that smelled like this once’.”

One of the noses tasked with reinterpreting these great works was French perfumer Delphine Lebeau, who created a fragrance based on The Lock by French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard that incorporates notes of chestnut and apple. Lilies served as the major inspiration for Lebeau though, who chose the flower for the sensual qualities it shares with the painting. “For me [it’s] very intense, sensual and intoxicating, but also very bright. When you leave a lily in the room, the smell is almost overwhelming.”

The other fragrances in the collection draw inspiration from the Venus de Milo, Winged, Victory of Samothrace, La Baigneuse, Grande Odalisque, Joseph the Carpenter, and Conversation in a Park artworks. 

Unfortunately, the collection will only be available at the Louvre, displayed in an old French postcard booth (sourced by Touhami himself) from July 3, 2019 until January 2020.

Which gives you ample time to book a last-minute getaway to Paris to get a whiff of the scents yourself, and hey, while you’re at it, maybe check out some art, too.

This isn’t the only unusual fragrance to hit markets this year. Cher is launching a genderless fragrance – here’s what we know so far.

What do you think of this interesting fragrance collaboration? Let us know in the comments below.

Main image credit: @beyonce