On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of its creation, 11 women have imagined a work to pay tribute to the oldest perfume bottle. These creations can be discovered in the exhibition area of the Guerlain boutique on the Champs-Elysées.
It is an emblematic, imperial bottle. Created in 1853 for Eugénie de Montijo on the occasion of her marriage to Emperor Napoleon III, it is still the star of the Maison Guerlain. A little gem revisited by celebrities and young talents whose exhibition is quite naturally titled Dear Eugenie.
Audrey Tautou’s lantern
Audrey Tautou or even Charlotte Rampling have cast their gaze as a woman, actress and photographer on this Flask with Bees which, for more than a century and a half, shines. The interpreter of Fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulin transformed the mythical perfume into a lantern. Charlotte Rampling’s work oscillates between shadow and light. On the professional photographer side, the Franco-Senegalese Delphine Diallo added his personal touch with a collage. As for the visual artist ORLANshe represented herself as an empress in an XXL painting, the precious bottle placed by her side on a velvet cushion. “I gave myself permission to turn into a queen and Empress Eugenie became me. I did a lot of works with hybridizations. For me, it’s important. It’s a meeting, the acceptance the other”, she reports. The photojournalist Jane Evelyn Atwoodshe preferred to have the Flacon aux Abeilles run aground on a beach.
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The preciously preserved Empress bottle
Different visions that bring modernity to this ancestral bottle, which is still handcrafted. As in the 19th century for the Empress Eugénie, it is decorated with 69 bees and festoons inspired by the Place Vendôme column. Its production is always entrusted to the glassworks Pouch of Courval. The bees and the festoons, in its golden version, are also hand-painted in fine gold. The Empress Eugénie bottle is usually kept in a secret location in the capital where other precious pieces from Maison Guerlain are enthroned.
Exhibition “Dear Eugenie”
Maison Guerlain, 68 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris
To discover until September 4, 2023 – Free entry
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