GUERLAIN Debuts “AN EXPLORATION OF FRAGRANCE, SINCE 1828 & BEYOND” Exhibition in Shanghai

With its most ambitious exhibition to date, An Exploration of Fragrance: Since 1828 & Beyond, Guerlain delivers a refined and assertive answer to a fundamental question: What truly defines a perfume?

Opening on May 8 at No.1 Waitanyuan in Shanghai, the exhibition featuring over 80 rare pieces, including two on view for the first time ever, unfolds across four distinct thematic galleries. Through immersive light and scent installations, an archive of rare ingredients, and interactive displays, the maison invites guests on a transcendent sensory voyage through time and memory.

This exhibition is not just a feast for the senses—melding scent, sound, sight, and thought—it also poses a deeper, more existential question to legacy brands: Can a house rich in history still stay open to the new? Can it continue to surprise?

As fragrance trends have surged and shifted at dizzying speed in recent years, Guerlain resists the urge to chase what’s fleeting. Instead, it responds with something more grounded: a sincere meditation on what it means to be “perfume.”
 <