The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
In 2017, the Fondation Beyeler commissioned Vincent Micotti to create a fragrance for its 20th anniversary. The brief: honor Paul Klee. Micotti reached into the German-Swiss painter's biography, his years under the Bauhaus, his flight from Nazi Germany, the tuberculosis sanatorium where he made some of his most profound work. But also the light. Klee spent time in Tunisia, and that North African brightness stayed with him as a counterpoint to everything that followed. The result is Lights and Shadows. Not a literal translation of any single painting, but an olfactory biography. The name comes directly from Klee's own language, his interest in how light and darkness coexist in a single composition. Micotti presented the work at the Fondation in December 2017, calling his talk "Paul Klee, Olfactory Memories." The commission elevated his standing in the art world while staying true to the house's independent spirit. ,
The note structure is unusual because it refuses the expected arc. Rhubarb opens green and sharp, tart enough to catch attention, not sweet enough to soften the blow. Then the middle stage shifts completely: ink and paper, the smell of a studio where something was made. Not wood, not abstraction. Just the tools. The base brings incense and dates together, which sounds heavier than it reads. The incense isn't churchy, it's the memory of smoke, already absorbed into the air. The dates add a sticky sweetness that catches you off guard in the final hours, when you think the fragrance has already settled into something quiet.
The evolution
The first thirty minutes announce themselves. Rhubarb doesn't whisper, it arrives tart and vegetal, with a green bite that some find aggressive and others find refreshing. If you've worn fragrances with dominant rhubarb, you know the territory. If you haven't, the sharpness is worth experiencing before you decide how you feel. Somewhere around the forty-minute mark, the softness arrives. Powdery notes emerge beneath the fruit, almost powder-dry, and the whole composition reads differently. The studio is opening. Ink and paper assert themselves, along with a warmth that was absent from the top. By hour two, the incense announces itself properly. Smoke without heat. Dates add a faint sweetness that the rhubarb tried to hide. The green quality hasn't disappeared entirely, it lingers in the background, grounding everything. Hours four through eight do what the opening promised. The fragrance stays close to skin but never disappears. Strong sillage in the early stages moderates into something more intimate, but it doesn't abandon you.
Cultural impact
The Fondation Beyeler commissioned this fragrance for its 20th anniversary in 2017, a significant institutional moment that elevated Micotti's standing in the art world. Limited and deliberately paced, it appeals to collectors who treat fragrance as artistic expression rather than commercial purchase. A niche fragrance for someone who finds beauty in what unfolds slowly.
