French perfume and beauty house Guerlain has opened the three floors of its historic store on the Champs-Élysées to contemporary art, timed to Art Basel Paris. Open free of charge from 21 October to 15 November 2026, the exhibition “L’Heure des Possibles” (The Hour of the Possible) reinterprets through art the brand’s iconic L’Heure Bleue fragrance and its spirit — that singular “blue hour” where sunset meets night.
Curated by Hervé Mikaeloff and Benoit Baume, the show brings together paintings, photography, video, sculpture and installation works by 34 artists, among them light-art legend James Turrell, Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, Zao Wou-Ki, Ugo Rondinone and Ann Veronica Janssens. Pairing established masters with emerging names gives the exhibition a cross-generational dialogue.
The exhibition runs alongside the launch of Guerlain’s new L’Heure Bleue eau de parfum. Perfumer Delphine Jelk has designed a dedicated scent trail through the venue that accompanies the artworks, offering visitors a combined visual and olfactory experience — a continuation of the house’s tradition of pairing perfumery with contemporary art, seen before in its 2022 exhibition “Les Militantes” and its 2023 show “Les Fleurs du Mal.”
Programmed to coincide with Art Basel Paris week, the exhibition stands out as one of the most ambitious art-world investments yet by a beauty and fragrance house. For the duration of the fair, the historic Maison Guerlain becomes one of Paris’s key gathering points for collectors, curators and art lovers alike.
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