This perfume was inspired by the famous oil painting ‘La Poursuite’. The oil painting evokes love in the famous series of paintings ‘Progrès de l'amour’. It originally belonged to the private exhibition of the Comtesse du Barry (1743–1793), the last mistress of Louis XV of France.
The famous paintings in the ‘Progrès de l'amour’ series were all painted by the renowned French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). The paintings describe the four stages of love: from courtship to a secret meeting, the crowning glory of love, united with the crowned lover, and then the memories of love: love letters.
The La Surprise bottle belongs to the painting La Poursuite. It shows three girls playing by a fountain in the warm sunlight. Suddenly, a young man presents his beloved lady with a rose, symbolising courtship. The courtship stage is full of surprises. As she did not expect it, the girl runs away in surprise, her body turning, her hands raised, her dress and ribbons becoming obstacles as she runs. Above the picture, two angels can be seen holding a dolphin, which in turn symbolises love. Longing is in the air, but love is not yet there.
La Surprise was composed by perfumer Cécile Zarokian. This floral fragrance for women is her follow-up to Bleu Satin for Parfums MDCI from 2019.
The story behind the painting perfumes
"We asked perfumers to translate their ideas, feelings, images and emotions into fragrances inspired by a few carefully selected masterpieces of painting. These paintings are the inspiration for four men's fragrances, which will later be followed by four women's fragrances based on four different paintings, some also from the Louvre, others from other collections.
Each painting evokes a particular character, era or mood (Venice, a battlefield, France, the English countryside, etc.) that each perfumer can use to express themselves.
