Started in Rome in 1835 by the Lyonnais artist Louis Janmot (1814-1892) and continued up until 1881, The Poem of the Soul is a pictorial and literary lifetime project. Conserved in its entirety at Lyon’s Museum of Fine Arts, its 34 compositions illustrate the initiatory journey of a soul on Earth. Formed of two cycles composed respectively of eighteen oil paintings and sixteen charcoal drawings, Henri Focillon described it as “romantic spiritualism’s most remarkable, most coherent and strangest series”.

The first cycle, composed of eighteen oil paintings produced between 1835 and 1854, tells the story of a soul’s first years in Heaven and on Earth, the soul being depicted in the form of a young boy, accompanied by a young girl. We follow the stages and vicissitudes of their journey: birth, childhood, the dangers of a bad education, back on the straight and narrow, dream of the ideal, and then experience of the most terrible reality with the young woman’s untimely death. Théophile Gautier and then Baudelaire were drawn to these canvases when they were exhibited for the first time in 1854 and then admitted to the 1855 Universal Exhibition on Delacroix’s recommendation.

The second cycle, composed of sixteen charcoal drawings on paper mounted on canvas, on which Janmot worked until 1881, tell how the boy, now alone and grown up, is confronted with all the human soul’s temptations and misfortunes: loneliness, doubt, denial of God, and the final the fatal fall. It has a happy ending though, with the advent of divine deliverance and mankind’s redemption. The second cycle was never exhibited in its entirety during the artist’s lifetime, but all the works were reproduced by the photographer Félix Thiollier in 1881, using the carbon print process.

A poem two thousand eight hundred and fourteen verses long, titled The Soul, accompanies the works. Written by Janmot himself and published in two parts, the first in 1854 and the second in 1881, it serves to reinforce the paintings’ “message” and meaning, and is indissociable from them. The Poem of the Soul is neither exactly a simple painted cycle nor an illustrated book; it is a hybrid work, both literary and pictorial, an invitation to contemplate, listen and wander.

The exhibition will acquaint visitors with The Poem of the Soul in its entirety. Although the first cycle forms part of the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts’ permanent itinerary, the second, more fragile due to the nature of the works, is usually kept in the reserves and very rarely shown. Like the Poem of the Soul’s protagonists, the public will be invited to explore the mysteries these images harbor, as they make their way, step by step, on their own “initiatory journey” through the works. The exhibition will encompass both modes of expression – visual and textual. Visitors will be able to hear the poem while contemplating the pictures.

In addition to discovery of the two cycles, the exhibition hopes to provide the keys to their interpretation through a series of thematic cabinets dedicated to the pictorial cycles, the iconography of the soul, the feminine ideal, landscape, nightmares and the unconscious. These developments will place The Poem of the Soul and its creator at the crossroads of references, influences and movements that are as much literary, religious and philosophical as they are artistic. Janmot, painter of the soul, was unlike any other artist of his day, yet his work echoes that of a number of other artists, including William Blake, Philipp Otto Runge and Francisco de Goya before him, his contemporaries the Pre-Raphaelites, and, later, the symbolists, Odilon Redon in particular, who was in contact with him.

Curatorship:
Stéphane Paccoud, Head Curator of 19th-Century Paintings and Sculptures at Lyon Museum of Fine Arts
Servane Dargnies-de Vitry, Curator of Paintings, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

The Sultanate of Oman evokes the home of incense and perfume. Selecting artworks from the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon to be displayed in the Oman National Museum,, the choice was naturally guided in large part by this enchanting theme.

Since the earliest times, and all civilizations, people have had a special relationship with fragrances, whether they were seen as viatica ensuring a safe passage into the divine world and the afterlife, or appreciated for their protective medicinal value or simply for everyday enjoyment. Within collections of antiquities and decorative arts in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, many works of art are related to incense, perfumes, herbs and spices. These artefacts provide valuable insights into the art and crafts of the time and enable scientists to grasp a major aspect of human societies’ intangible culture.

At the dawn of History, the Ancient Egyptians made extensive use of perfumes, herbs and spices, which were also essential ingredients in the unguents used for mummification, the process of preserving the deceased’s body in readiness for life after death. Because of their volatility, unguents and scented resins also played a major role in communicating with the divine; the Ancient Egyptians offered incense to the gods to secure their protection and bottles of perfume were symbolically placed in the tombs. Perfume was synonymous with the fine art of living and was also widely used in a secular setting for personal grooming and adornment. From Ancient Egypt to the late Roman Empire, the olfactory pleasure derived from the unguent itself was heightened by the beauty of the balsamaria, or small containers, which were made in various shapes and of various materials.

In the West, the use of incense was passed down through history from Antiquity, then spread with Christianity. During the celebration of worship, the act of incensing symbolically establishes a connection with the divine. The smoke rising from the censer represents the prayers of the faithful, ascending to the heavens. Special-purpose liturgical fixtures were created for the celebrants’ use. Moreover, in Christian thinking, sickness was seen as a direct outcome of original sin. In the Middle Ages, when populations were decimated by epidemics of the bubonic plague, foul odours were associated with the universe of Evil. Spreading incense was a way of helping to ward off demons. The East-West trade routes established during the Crusades (1096-1291) opened the door to new scents and spices. A pottery industry sprang up to cater for the needs of apothecaries and merchants selling herbs and spices. In Spain, the Arabs also made a significant contribution to the perfume trade. The Renaissance period was marked by discoveries. Vasco de Gama opened up a sea route to India, returning with incense, ginger, pepper and cloves, while Christopher Columbus brought back vanilla, copal, the cocoa bean and tobacco from the New World... The invention of the printing press paved the way for scientific knowledge about nature and plants to reach a wide audience. Certain treatises dealt with distillation and various essences, and set down recipes for scented waters. Throughout Europe, nature became one of artists’ favourite themes. Over the centuries, it was the source of deep-seated inspiration for the designers of decorative objects.  At the turn of the twentieth century, Art Nouveau in particular saw itself as profoundly “organic”. Close observation of the plant kingdom, from its waving stems to the vein system of leaves, gave birth to the curves and sinuous lines that are the signature of Art Nouveau architecture and object decoration. René Lalique is one of the main exponents of this style. The perfume bottles he designed are an enduring testimony to his fascination with nature, its shapes and scents.

The selection curated from the collections of the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts on the theme of “On the Perfume Roads” has been supplemented by various representative works from the departments. They offer visitors a number of milestones in the universal history of art.

Curators

Geneviève Galliano, Chief Curator, Antiquities Department
Salima Hellal, Chief Curator, Art Objects Department
Lyon Museum of Fine Arts

The Sultanate of Oman evokes the home of incense and perfume. Selecting artworks from the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon to be displayed in the Oman National Museum,, the choice was naturally guided in large part by this enchanting theme.

Since the earliest times, and all civilizations, people have had a special relationship with fragrances, whether they were seen as viatica ensuring a safe passage into the divine world and the afterlife, or appreciated for their protective medicinal value or simply for everyday enjoyment. Within collections of antiquities and decorative arts in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, many works of art are related to incense, perfumes, herbs and spices. These artefacts provide valuable insights into the art and crafts of the time and enable scientists to grasp a major aspect of human societies’ intangible culture.

At the dawn of History, the Ancient Egyptians made extensive use of perfumes, herbs and spices, which were also essential ingredients in the unguents used for mummification, the process of preserving the deceased’s body in readiness for life after death. Because of their volatility, unguents and scented resins also played a major role in communicating with the divine; the Ancient Egyptians offered incense to the gods to secure their protection and bottles of perfume were symbolically placed in the tombs. Perfume was synonymous with the fine art of living and was also widely used in a secular setting for personal grooming and adornment. From Ancient Egypt to the late Roman Empire, the olfactory pleasure derived from the unguent itself was heightened by the beauty of the balsamaria, or small containers, which were made in various shapes and of various materials.

In the West, the use of incense was passed down through history from Antiquity, then spread with Christianity. During the celebration of worship, the act of incensing symbolically establishes a connection with the divine. The smoke rising from the censer represents the prayers of the faithful, ascending to the heavens. Special-purpose liturgical fixtures were created for the celebrants’ use. Moreover, in Christian thinking, sickness was seen as a direct outcome of original sin. In the Middle Ages, when populations were decimated by epidemics of the bubonic plague, foul odours were associated with the universe of Evil. Spreading incense was a way of helping to ward off demons. The East-West trade routes established during the Crusades (1096-1291) opened the door to new scents and spices. A pottery industry sprang up to cater for the needs of apothecaries and merchants selling herbs and spices. In Spain, the Arabs also made a significant contribution to the perfume trade. The Renaissance period was marked by discoveries. Vasco de Gama opened up a sea route to India, returning with incense, ginger, pepper and cloves, while Christopher Columbus brought back vanilla, copal, the cocoa bean and tobacco from the New World... The invention of the printing press paved the way for scientific knowledge about nature and plants to reach a wide audience. Certain treatises dealt with distillation and various essences, and set down recipes for scented waters. Throughout Europe, nature became one of artists’ favourite themes. Over the centuries, it was the source of deep-seated inspiration for the designers of decorative objects.  At the turn of the twentieth century, Art Nouveau in particular saw itself as profoundly “organic”. Close observation of the plant kingdom, from its waving stems to the vein system of leaves, gave birth to the curves and sinuous lines that are the signature of Art Nouveau architecture and object decoration. René Lalique is one of the main exponents of this style. The perfume bottles he designed are an enduring testimony to his fascination with nature, its shapes and scents.

The selection curated from the collections of the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts on the theme of “On the Perfume Roads” has been supplemented by various representative works from the departments. They offer visitors a number of milestones in the universal history of art.

Curators

Geneviève Galliano, Chief Curator, Antiquities Department
Salima Hellal, Chief Curator, Art Objects Department
Lyon Museum of Fine Arts