smell

Scent of Colour 

The Scent of Colour turns painting into scent. Every colour has a corresponding number of wavelengths per second and can be related to the number of carbons in the chain in organic chemistry of an essential oil. This project takes a set piece of information, in this instance the 10 bars from Gabriel Faure’s Requiem in D minor, Op. 48, vii. In Paradisum, D Major measures 20-30 and transposes to every key to generate a colour palette for every major key. Each palette generates a perfume chord, with chord progression, while maintaining the proportions, from colour into smell. 

Database of IUPAC essential oils

Colour and Scent are both inorganic and organic chemistry. Each pigment reflects light on the colour spectrum, organic chemistry, the main component of scent, is organised by carbon chains. Perfume is composed of a chord. The top, middle and base notes relate to colour, music and scent. This is the juncture of chemistry and botany.


The Scent of Colour compares the inorganic chemistry of pigments to the organic chemistry of plants and animals. Comparing mass spectroscopy to carbon chain numbers, pigments are related to scent molecules.  This is chemistry to chemistry transformation. This is the threshold where energy becomes matter.

Gabriel Faure Requiem D minor, Op.48 vii. In Paradisum D Major, measure  20- 30.  

Transposed to 12 keys which generates a palette for every key. Translated into perfume chords with top, middle and base notes corresponding to alcohol, aldehyde and ketone.

D Major

Eb Major

E Major

F Major

F# Major

G Major

Ab Major

A Major

Bb Major

B Major

C Major

C# Major