Can you exhibit a fragrance like a painting?
Picture a museum room. A painting on the wall, a label beside it, a small group of visitors who stop, step back, tilt their heads. Everyone knows what to do: you look.
Now imagine the artwork is a smell.
Where do you stand? How long do you stay? How do you know when it's "finished"? And above all: how do you keep the work from evaporating before the visitor has had time to understand it? A fragrance has no frame, no plinth, no display case. It drifts, it changes, it disappears.
That is exactly the question raised by a podcast episode I listened to with real pleasure: "Smell Talks: Exposer le parfum" (Smell Talks: Exhibiting Fragrance), produced by Nez. And because we ask ourselves this very question every day at Eco.French.Lab (in hotels, pharmacies, agencies, boutiques), I wanted to talk about it here, wearing my hat as a creator of fragrances for places.
In short (TL;DR)
"Smell Talks: Exposer le parfum" is an audio roundtable from the magazine Nez, published in 2026, bringing together Laure Decomble (perfumery museum) and Kitty Shpirer (artist and perfumer) around one idea: fragrance can be an artistic medium in its own right.
Exhibiting a fragrance is a real challenge: it is invisible, ephemeral, and the nose quickly gets used to it. Museums and artists are therefore inventing new formats, like those already tried at Tate Britain in 2015 or around a scented marble sculpture in 2026.
Olfactory art and scent marketing meet on one essential point: telling a story you can breathe, with consistency, dosage and staging.
Our view at Eco.French.Lab: a place that smells nice is good. A place with a fragrance that looks like it is better. And what makes the difference is the staging.
Five lessons from the art world can be applied to your venue: choose a story, take care of consistency, dose carefully, create touchpoints and leave a trace.
What is the "Smell Talks: Exposer le parfum" podcast about?
"Smell Talks" is a series of audio conversations from Nez, the magazine of olfactory culture. The episode "Exposer le parfum" is a roundtable published on June 11, 2026, hosted by Guillaume Tesson, a journalist and head of the "Podcasts by Nez" channel.
Two guests take part.
Laure Decomble is scientific manager for the conservation of perfumery museums. According to the episode's introduction, she is exploring new ways of exhibiting fragrance at the Musée international de la Parfumerie, notably through olfactory installations and collaborations with contemporary artists. The introduction says she "imagines new ways of exhibiting fragrance."
Kitty Shpirer is an artist and perfumer. Again according to the introduction, she develops projects in which fragrance enters into dialogue with painting, dance, music or writing.
What they share fits in one sentence, which the episode's introduction sums up this way: fragrance as "a bridge between all the other artistic disciplines."
A word of honesty: this article is based on the official description of the episode, not on a transcript (there isn't one on the page). For the speakers' exact words, the best thing is to listen to the episode yourself: the link is in the sources at the bottom of the page.
Why is it so hard to exhibit a fragrance?
When you think about it, a fragrance combines almost every obstacle a museum could face.
It is invisible. You can't photograph it, hang it or light it. The visitor has nothing to look at, so nothing to orient themselves by.
It is ephemeral. A scent evolves: the top notes fly away, the heart settles, the base remains. What you smell at the entrance isn't what you smell ten minutes later.
The nose gets used to it. This is called olfactory adaptation: after a few minutes, the brain "switches off" the signal of a steady smell to stay alert to anything new. Exhibiting a fragrance therefore also means fighting the visitor's nose fatigue.
It blends. In a room, smells cross and contaminate one another. An olfactory work can't be "isolated" like a painting.
It is subjective. Two visitors in front of the same smell may find in it a happy childhood or a hospital waiting room. The same fragrance doesn't evoke the same thing for everyone.
For all these reasons, institutions and artists have to invent new rules of staging. And that's exactly what makes this subject so exciting for those of us who work with scent.
How do you actually exhibit a fragrance?
A few real examples show how varied the approaches can be. I didn't choose them at random: they are documented, and each brings an idea.
A smell to step into a painting: Tate Sensorium (2015)
From August 26 to September 20, 2015, Tate Britain in London presented "Tate Sensorium," a project designed by the studio Flying Object to help visitors discover four works by 20th-century British artists by engaging all the senses. The idea, as summed up in the press at the time: our senses work together, they don't operate in a vacuum ("our senses work together, they are not in a vacuum").
For Richard Hamilton's Interior II (1964), a smell was created to evoke elements of the work, including a 1940s perfume. The fragrance wasn't the artwork: it was a doorway into it. It told the visitor: "look more closely."
Six smells and texts to listen to: "Psychanalyse des fleurs" (2023)
From February 14 to March 25, 2023, the Villa Saint-Hilaire presented an installation with six stations, where the public breathed in six smells while listening to texts by Ismaël Jude read by actors. The fragrances, with "subtle olfactory variations" from one station to the next, were created by Kitty Shpirer, who describes herself as a perfumer and olfactory creator.
This installation shows a very simple and very powerful idea: for a fragrance to be "read," you have to give it a route, a rhythm, a narrative. Here, the text guides the imagination and the smell gives it a body.
A marble sculpture that smells: the "Médusa parfumée" (2026)
From May 23 to August 30, 2026, the Musée international de la Parfumerie presented an olfactory sculpture carved in Carrara marble, offering a calm reading of Medusa. The fragrance, created in collaboration with the fragrance house dsm-firmenich, wraps the sculpture "in an invisible but deeply tangible aura" and, as the article describing it points out, is not a mere accompaniment.
Here the fragrance doesn't comment on the work: it is part of the very material of the sculpture. It's a step further.
Three installations, three philosophies: smell as a guide, as a narrative, as a material. Each time, the fragrance is never left alone. It is given a context, a frame, a story.
Is fragrance really an art?
The question comes up often, and it divides people. On one side, some see it first as a craft: that of the perfumer, who composes a formula within technical, regulatory and commercial constraints. On the other, artists and curators argue that fragrance should be recognized as an artistic medium in its own right.
I don't think we have to choose. A fragrance can be a product and a work, just as a building can be a shelter and architecture. What matters is intent: when a composition is designed to tell a story, to move people, to dialogue with a place or another form of expression, it becomes more than a pleasant smell.
And that's where we find the idea of the "bridge" evoked in the episode: fragrance connects. It connects painting and memory, dance and the memory of a garden, music and childhood. Researchers remain cautious about the exact mechanism, but they confirm the link between smell, emotion and memory. In a review article published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2014, Maria Larsson and her colleagues write that "most studies suggest an emotional advantage" for memories evoked by an odor, while noting that other studies don't find this effect. In other words: the link is solid, its fine workings are still debated.
Marcel Proust put it more poetically in Swann's Way: smell and taste remain "more fragile, but more enduring, more immaterial, more persistent, more faithful," and bear "unfaltering, on their almost impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory."
"A place doesn't need to smell strong to be noticed. It needs to smell right." — Eco.French.Lab
Our view at Eco.French.Lab: what olfactory art teaches brands
I won't pretend that we make art. We create fragrances for hotels, pharmacies, agencies, boutiques. Our craft is first of all in service of a place and the people who bring it to life.
But listening to this episode, I felt I was hearing, in other words, what we keep telling our clients. Here is what, in my view, the world of olfactory art has to teach us.
1. A fragrance needs a story
In all the examples above, the smell is tied to a narrative: a painting, texts, a sculpture. In a professional venue, it's the same. A fragrance chosen because it "smells nice" leaves no trace. A fragrance composed from the story of the place (its light, its materials, the way it welcomes people) becomes a signature. That's the difference between an ambient fragrance and a scent identity.
2. Consistency matters more than intensity
A study presented in 2016 by Carmen Adams and Lieve Doucé shows that what improves how a place is rated is the consistency between the smell and the environment, not simply the presence of a pleasant smell. In front of a painting as in a hotel lobby, the nose wants harmony. A fragrance that contradicts the decor rings false, even when you can't say why.
3. Dosage is a matter of respect
Artists know that a smell that's too present overwhelms the work. For us it's the same rule: the right fragrance is the one you hardly notice but remember. We prefer diffusion cycles with pauses (to avoid olfactory adaptation) over a continuous cloud that tires people out.
4. Several touchpoints beat a single one
A six-station route, like in "Psychanalyse des fleurs," lets you experience the smell several times, from several angles. In a hotel, that means a fragrance in the lobby, a mist on the linen, a candle to take home. We told in another article how the mist applied to a hotel's linen extends the identity of the place beyond the reception. The principle is the same: don't leave the fragrance alone.
5. What remains is the memory
An exhibition lasts a few weeks. A venue welcomes visitors all year round. Our ambition is for them to leave with an impression, an emotion, sometimes a scented object at home. It's the same mechanism as the artwork that stays with you after the exhibition.
From museum to hotel, from pharmacy to agency: the same questions
What I like about this podcast is that it brings me back to something obvious: whether you're in a museum or a business, you ask yourself the same questions.
What do we want to tell? An era, a craft, a way of welcoming people.
How do we guide the visitor? By giving them landmarks (a route, a moment, an entry point).
How do we avoid saturation? Through dosage and diffusion cycles.
How do we extend the experience? Through objects, products, discreet reminders.
That's what we try to do in each of our crafts: custom fragrance creation to give a place a voice, cold-air nebulization to bring it to life without imposing it, and custom scented products to let it travel. To go further, our guide to scent marketing details every step.
How do you stage fragrance in your venue?
You don't need a museum to apply these ideas. Here are five simple steps.
Write the story in one sentence. "A family house by the sea." "A place that takes care of you." That sentence becomes the compass for creating the fragrance.
Choose notes in harmony with the place. Materials, light, colors: the fragrance should feel like it belongs there.
Set the diffusion with care. Low intensity, cycles with pauses, good ventilation.
Add a second touchpoint. A textile mist, a candle, a reed diffuser for sale.
Listen to reactions. The spontaneous remarks of your visitors and your team are worth more than any dashboard.
Should you listen to this episode?
If you love fragrance, art, or the way the two speak to each other, yes. If you work in a field where atmosphere matters (hospitality, healthcare, real estate, retail), it's also a valuable source of inspiration: these reflections on staging smell directly feed the way we design a fragrance for a place.
The episode is available on the Nez magazine site, as well as on several listening platforms. The links are in the Sources section.
Frequently asked questions about exhibiting fragrance and olfactory art
What is olfactory art?
It is an artistic practice that uses fragrance or smell as a material or as the central element of a work. It can take the form of an installation, a route, a scented sculpture or a dialogue with another discipline (painting, dance, music, writing).
Why is it difficult to exhibit a fragrance in a museum?
Because it is invisible and ephemeral, it evolves over time, it mixes with the other smells in the room, and the nose quickly gets used to it. Installations therefore have to guide the visitor and manage the rhythm of diffusion.
What is the "Smell Talks: Exposer le parfum" podcast about?
It's a roundtable from the magazine Nez in which Laure Decomble, scientific manager for the conservation of perfumery museums, and Kitty Shpirer, artist and perfumer, reflect on how to exhibit fragrance and make it dialogue with other artistic disciplines.
What is the link between olfactory art and scent marketing?
Both seek to create an experience through smell: tell a story, create an emotion, leave a memory. Scent marketing does so in service of a place or a brand, with practical constraints (dosage, safety, daily diffusion), whereas olfactory art has more freedom.
Can an ambient fragrance really be consistent with a place?
Yes, provided you start from the identity of the place. A study presented in 2016 by Adams and Doucé suggests that consistency between the smell and the environment improves how the place is rated. That's why we recommend a custom creation rather than a fragrance picked at random from a catalog.
How do I start a fragrance project for my venue?
The simplest way is to describe your venue, your clientele and the atmosphere you want. We then suggest an olfactory direction, a suitable diffusion system and, if you wish, scented products to extend the experience.
A fragrance can't be put under glass. But it can be staged, with attention, consistency and a little poetry. Artists and museum curators remind us that smell deserves the same care as any other form of expression. And for a place that welcomes the public, that may be the finest compliment you can pay a fragrance: that people want to stop and look at it with their noses.
What if your venue also had a fragrance to tell?
Lire l' article en français : post/art-et-parfum
Sources
Nez, Smell Talks: Exposer le parfum (June 11, 2026), Podcasts by Nez: mag.bynez.com (also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer)
Tate Sensorium, Tate Britain, August 26 - September 20, 2015: ispr.info
"Psychanalyse des fleurs," olfactory and sound installation, February 14 - March 25, 2023 (DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur press release): culture.gouv.fr
"Médusa parfumée," olfactory sculpture, Musée international de la Parfumerie, May 23 - August 30, 2026: presseagence.fr
Larsson M., Willander J., Karlsson K., Arshamian A. (2014), perspective article on autobiographical memory evoked by odors, Frontiers in Psychology: frontiersin.org
Adams C., Doucé L. (2016), "The effect of crossmodal congruency between ambient scent and the store environment on consumer reactions," EMAC: documentserver.uhasselt.be
Proust M., Swann's Way (1913), "Combray."
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