100 years of Shalimar, 100 years of passion condensed into a free exhibition that smells of emotion and perfume. From October 22 to November 16, 2025, Guerlain unveils En Plein Cœur, a century of unfiltered love. Three floors, more than thirty artists, and a legendary fragrance as the common thread: here, love can be seen, experienced, and breathed in.
Guerlain explores love in three movements:
Created in 1925 by Jacques Guerlain, Shalimar draws its legend from the story of Mumtaz and Shâh Jahân, builders of the Taj Mahal. In Sanskrit, "Shalimar" means "abode of love". One hundred years later, its mysterious, sensual trail still travels through time.
Louise Bourgeois, whose work is featured in the exhibition, was faithful to Shalimar:"Perfumes, like memories, appear, disappear and reappear." Perfume becomes a witness to memory, desire and fidelity, like love itself.
The exhibition brings together major and emerging artists. Pablo Picasso opens the ball with a brothel scene, while Sofiya Loriashvili, Ukrainian artist and sex worker, transforms her body into a tool for emancipation. David Hockney captures the intimate everyday, Aristide Maillol sculpts classical sensuality, Alex Gardner fuses silhouettes in silent embraces.
The textures of love can also be read in the work of François Rouan, Hui Choi, Charlotte Abramow, Camille Henrot and Valentin Ranger, who explore bodily memory, the matter of desire and our contemporary loves, both digital and physical.
On the collective side, Damien Moulierac hangs hearts like shared memories, Françoise Pétrovitch captures first love, Omar Ba celebrates the conjugal bond, Louis Verret mixes autobiography and Roland Barthes. Pierre et Gilles transform Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday into pop icons, Marion Flament invents rosaries of love, Genesis Belanger hijacks romanticism, Philippe Favier revisits marriage. Vasantha Yogananthan and Liu Bolin create a dialogue between Shalimar and the Taj Mahal, while Niki de Saint Phalle's L'Oiseau amoureux makes freedom synonymous with love.
Emotion is also political. Robert Mapplethorpe photographed Louise Bourgeois with Fillette, between provocation and tenderness. Ren Hang exposes raw sexuality, Iván Argote erects a monumental kiss(Lengua con Lengua), John Giorno transforms the word "love" into a pulse, Susan Hefuna embroiders the silences of desire.
In Imponderabilia, Marina Abramović & Ulay make the visitor an actor of love: passing between two naked bodies becomes an experience of the body and the flesh.
To complete the experience, Guerlain perfumer Delphine Jelk and sensory studio Magique Studio have created an olfactory trail. Nine artists - from Pierre et Gilles to Liu Bolin - have collaborated. Each room has its own imprint, its own aura, its own scent. Fragrance dialogues with art, becoming a medium, an emotional guide and an invisible thread between the works.
Guerlain lays bare love (and noses) on the Champs-Élysées for Art Basel 2025!
Dates and Opening Time
From October 22, 2025 to November 16, 2025
