Perfume, sculpture of the invisible: Francis Kurkdjian's free olfactory exhibition in Paris - photos

Prepare your nostrils, you're about to smell art!From October 29 to November 23, 2025, the Palais de Tokyo is opening its doors (and even its bottles) to Parfum, sculpture de l'invisible, a free retrospectivededicated to Francis Kurkdjian's 30 years of creation, available by reservation.

Three years after the landmark exhibition by jeweler Fred, it is now time for the alchemist of scents. At the age of 24, Francis Kurkdjian was already shaking up the industry with Jean Paul Gaultier's Le Male, which became a global icon, before founding his bespoke perfume workshop in 2001.

From Dior to Saint Laurent, Rick Owens to Galliano, he puts his nose at the service of the greatest fashion houses, while developing a bold olfactory oeuvre at the crossroads of disciplines, alongside artists, with installations that travel from the Grand Palais to Shanghai, from the Villa Medici to the Palace of Versailles, where he also created the Jardin du Parfumeur(Perfumer's Garden). For him, olfaction is a medium in its own right, an invisible but sensitive material, capable of moving us as much as a painting or a symphony.

The exhibition, orchestrated by Maison Francis Kurkdjian and curated by Jérôme Neutres, rightly claims this place for perfume in museums—a territory still rare for this intangible art. At the Palais de Tokyo, visitors breathe as much as they look. They follow a multi-sensory journey, between scents, sounds, and images, where each fragrance tells a fragment of the imagination, a memory, an idea. Upon entering, visitors receive a booklet in which they can collect the "perfumer's touches" scattered throughout the different spaces of the exhibition.

Some installations are manifestos in themselves. With L'Or bleu, a perfumed water to drink designed with Yann Toma, Kurkdjian invites us to taste perfume rather than wear it. Further on, L'Odeur de l'argent, created for Sophie Calle, plays on the tension between attraction and repulsion.

Bach's Cello Suite No. 2, performed by Klaus Mäkelä, is translated into olfactory accords, revealing the parallel between musical notes and scents, while V-Scent, avirtual reality vice, replaces pixels with fragrances. It's all about diffusion, perception, and intensity.

At the end of the walk, " " "L'Alchimie des Sens" unfoldsthe universe of the legendary Baccarat Rouge 540 inan immersive installation- , where light, sound, taste, and scent merge. Under the direction of Cyril Teste, the works of Elias Crespin, David Chalmin, the Labèque sisters, and the culinary creation of Anne-Sophie Pic—a dark chocolate with saffron, tagete-passion, and sweet pepper—awaken all five senses at once.

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The journey ends in the intimacy of Francis Kurkdjian's office, recreated in the heart of the Palais de Tokyo. And sometimes, the master of the house will come to work there himself—offering visitors a rare opportunity to see the perfumer at work, surrounded by his own imagination.

In thirty years of creation, Francis Kurkdjian has turned perfume into a visual language. He composes with emotions as others do with light. At the Palais de Tokyo, he offers an experience that can be contemplated as much as it can be breathed in: a sculpture of the invisible where art becomes air, and air becomes a work of art.