The installation SFUMATO INVISIBILE or the invisible aura of Mona Lisa is a poetic ode infusing through the art of perfume, a voice, a very real presence to the Florentine woman who remained invisible behind the iconic painting of the Mona Lisa.

Following extensive historical research and following in the footsteps of Lisa Gherardini during a trip to Italy officially supported by Silvia Costantini Consul General of Italy in Montreal, the perfume artist created an immersive work in which she composed in an authentic way a perfume with a vaporous, amber, earthy and smoky trail, in homage to the painting's pictorial technique, sfumato. A glass bell containing fragments of the workshop symbolically captures the aura of the enigmatic woman immortalized by the famous portrait of Monna Lisa painted during the Renaissance by Leonardo da Vinci. Because if the essential is invisible to the eyes, SFUMATO INVISIBILE transports us on a note suspended in a mythical period in the history of art and sublimates the scope of a timeless beauty sought by so many people even today.

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What if it was possible to feel the invisible beauty of the Mona Lisa?

Following in the footsteps of Mona Lisa, Alexandra Bachand went to Italy after extensive historical research in order to explore history. That of a great era and more particularly, the places which saw the birth of the great Tuscan master and Florence, the birthplace of Lisa Gherardini. The artist wondered how after so many years, could this woman still remain in the shadow of the icon? The art of perfume at the heart of the installation seeks to give it a very real presence, a breath, an authentic voice. The perfume echoes the timeless enigmatic grace that emerges from the portrait painted in the 16th century by the great master, using the pictorial technique of sfumato, from the Italian “smoky” which gives a vaporous appearance to the contours.

Inspired by the unparalleled elegance of the iris pallida, the blue gold of fine perfumery, Alexandra Bachand went to Tuscany (Italy) to extract iris rhizomes in Sienna to create an authentic composition. with rare and unique raw materials from the Italian region. The artist also gives a nod to Quebec which, since 1999, has chosen the iris (versicolor) as its floral emblem. In order to feel fragments of the past associated with Leonardo da Vinci, she first goes to Vinci, to discover her birthplace, rich in history, surrounded by olive trees offering a spectacular horizon over a hilly and mountainous territory. In search of the essence of the Florentine woman, she set foot on the old cobblestones of Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance. There she discovers Lisa's childhood place, then the neighborhood where she resided at a certain period with her family, a few steps from the residence of Piero da Vinci, Leonardo's father. A short documentary film (7 min.) of this epic artistic journey, directed by Eric Delbaere, joins the installation.

For Alexandra, her art explores a way of touching in a deep and authentic way those who explore it. Invisibly, the perfume she composes writes a poetic, emotional and immersive story.

“If the essential is invisible to the eyes, perfume transports us to the heart of what is most symbolic and most personal. Sublimated by olfaction, these fragments of the past become moments of the present that we never imagined we could experience. SFUMATO INVISIBILE reveals in an unsuspected way the beauty of an art, of a land, of a mythical period in history and breathes a very real presence into the woman behind the icon.”