Smell Colour: Chemistry, Art and Pedagogy

Just as colours are organized in the visual world according to the Pantone scale, so in the world of smell they are translated into a periodic table derived from chemistry. This exhibition catalog features a total of 88 works by Spanish and international artists, selected on the basis of olfactory criteria. Perfumers and flavourists communicate in a special language of their own, expressed in terms of "olfactory notes." Each of these notes is represented by a particular colour that helps the perfumer or flavourist to create it. This classification system, which combines smell, colour and art, provides the leitmotif of the present exhibition, which offers us a new appreciation of the links within the world of sensory perception and of how the chemical combinations that produce smells can awaken us to new realms of sensation.