MADRID, April 7 — For some people, immersing themselves in a work of art is a true sensory experience. In Madrid, the Prado Museum is taking the concept of immersion even further by inviting visitors to take in the odours of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Some paintings, such as The Sense of Smell by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, suggest floral scents so enchanting that you might well wonder whether the two Flemish masters might have liked us to smell them. This is now possible at the Prado Museum’s exhibition “La esencia de un cuadro” (“The Essence of a Painting”).

Curator Alejandro Vergara has teamed up with perfumer Gregorio Sola to create 10 scents referencing elements of the painting by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder. The aim is to allow visitors to discover The Sense of Smell not only by sight, but also through smell. The company Puig, for whom Gregorio Sola works, has installed perfume diffusers around the painting so that visitors can experience the different smells implied by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Some are particularly pleasant. A fragrance called Allegory, for example, encourages visitors to focus on the small bouquet of flowers being smelled by the woman in the lower right corner of Peter Paul Rubens’ painting. It is based on rose, jasmine and carnation. The fragrances Fig Tree and Orange Blossom are equally pleasing. The former echoes the humid, refreshing smell of a fig tree on a summer’s day, while the latter is based on neroli, the essential oil distilled from orange blossom.

From sweet scents to stenches

Others, like Civet may catch visitors to “The Essence of a Painting” more off guard. This mammal with black-spotted grey fur, seen in the right corner of The Sense of Smell, is known for the substance it secretes to mark its territory. Civet’s harsh odour is faecal, strong and nauseating. But when used in the manufacture of perfume, it can be much less unpleasant.

According to Artnet News, Alejandro Vergara got the idea to incorporate smells into the exhibition after reading a letter from one of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s patrons. He said that when he looked at the flowers painted by Brueghel in winter, he felt he could smell them. An opinion shared by the curator of the Prado Museum: “His attention to detail, often miniaturistic, shows a keen sensitivity to the five senses. All that I was really trying to do was call attention to the sense of joy that these works produce in me, hoping that others will see — and smell — this as well,” he told the publication.

The Madrid museum is not the only one to have incorporated the sense of smell into its exhibitions. The Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague used this sense to stage “Smell the Art: Fleeting — Scents in Colour.” Visitors were able to discover some 50 paintings, drawings, prints and objects that allowed them to immerse themselves in smells typical to the 17th century. Fragrance diffusers were installed in the museum so that they could fill the air with the different odours and aromas represented in the works of art on display. Some were pleasant, like a cupboard of fresh linen or myrrh, while others were more noxious. — ETX Studio