From now on, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) will also engage the sense of smell. On November 14, the KMSKA will launch a refined tabl’eau de parfum that captures the essence of the museum in subtle fragrances. Scent artist Laura de Coninck – whom you might know from the fragrances she created for Belgian accessory brand Hedgren or body and home care brand Le Parfum de Nathalie, created a balanced composition with references to the works of the Flemish Masters, the exceptional architecture, and the active painting studio.
How do you translate the pleasure gardens of the Flemish Masters into scent? Which notes allow you to carry the classical rooms of the KMSKA on your skin? And how do you distill the striking architecture of the new museum into a pleasant concentrate? These are just a few of the challenges faced by scent expert Laura de Coninck, who is an artist in residence at the internationally renowned Givaudan perfume house in Paris, for the creation of the KMSKA perfume. To authentically recreate the historical scents behind the colors and tableaux, she collaborated with perfume historian Alexandre Helwani, art historian Koen Bulckens (KMSKA), and perfume expert Sofie Albrecht.
With the launch of the KMSKA perfume, we are exploring new horizons, just as our Artists in Residence interpret the collection and architecture through music, dance, and the spoken word, scent artist Laura de Coninck captures the character of the KMSKA in an intriguing perfume. In this way, we explicitly engage an extra sense for our visitors. Scents, like artworks, evoke emotions. The combination of both can lead to an explosion of feelings. From now on, if you wish, you can carry a piece of the KMSKA with you permanently.
– Carmen Willems, General Director of KMSKA vzw.
Themes in Fragrance Accords
Laura de Coninck: “The KMSKA perfume maps out various themes from the museum and its collection through olfactory accords. Each accord is a balanced blend of raw materials, each evoking a different theme. The pleasure gardens often depicted in classical paintings are evoked through spicy, earthy, and fruity notes such as carnation, apple, and rose. The smoky and sacred rituals are conjured with hints of incense and fragrant myrrh, along with ingredients from the ‘holy oil’ recipe used for sacraments. A cloud of white musk with a touch of ambergris and cumin brings to life the naked bodies painted by Ensor and Rubens. Modern molecules, musk, and sandalwood give it a transparent, contemporary touch, evoking the color white and referencing the new part of the museum.”
Cedar and oak represent the parquet flooring and the paneling of the classical rooms. Gum resin — found in old varnishes — and natural turpentine from pine and fir bring the active painting studio to life. The dark scent notes subtly contrast with the fresh and transparent tones, creating a beautiful tension between dark and light. This reflects the central theme of ‘Clair-Obscur’ (Light-Dark), which is evident throughout the KMSKA, not only in many artworks but also in the intriguing interplay between classical and modern architecture.
Rubens’ Woodcut
For the bottle and packaging of the perfume, designer An Eisendrath from Studio Anorak based her work on an old woodcut by Rubens. She enlarged the image so much that it becomes abstract. The play between black and white, opaque and transparent, aligns perfectly with the concept of clair-obscur.
Natural Raw Materials
The KMSKA perfume is crafted from high-quality and precious ingredients. These include vetiver from Haiti, patchouli from Indonesia, cedarwood from Texas, fragrant myrrh (opopanax) from Somalia, centifolia roses, Bourbon geranium, cinnamon bark oil, bergamot from Italy, and black pepper from Madagascar, among others. These and other raw materials are sourced as much as possible from natural harvests and ecological cultivation. The added synthetic elements are also of the highest quality. The packaging minimizes the use of paper and contains no coating or cellophane.
Available from November 14 in the KMSKA museum shop, priced at €145 for a 100ml bottle.
