INTERVIEW. "The idea was to rediscover the atmosphere and mystery of the Théâtre des Capucines"says the cultural director of Fragonard, our guide in Le Théâtre du Parfum

The Fragonard house has reopened its third museum, Le Théâtre du Parfum, located at 39 boulevard des Capucines in Paris. In addition to a museum tour dedicated to the history of perfumery, it offers a complementary experience to the two other museums dedicated to perfumes, which already exist, thanks to the unique atmosphere exuded by this old theater built at the end of the 19th century.

The story of Fragonard begins shortly after the First World War, when Eugène Fuchs left Saint-Chamond and his notary office to settle in the sunny lands of Grasse. An entrepreneur at heart, won over by the magic of perfume, he decided to create his own business and acquired two perfumeries. This is how, in 1926, the Fragonard Perfumery was born: Eugène Fuchs decided to pay homage to the most famous child of the city of Grasse, the painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Since then, the house has continued to forge links between perfume, art and the art of living.

In 2026, to mark its 100th anniversary, the house unveils exclusive creations, inspired by its archives, and designed with its emblematic flowers, and reopens its museum, Le Théâtre du Parfum, which Charlotte Urbain, Culture Director at Fragonard, shows us around.

Franceinfo culture: In Grasse, the historic factory has housed a perfume museum since 1975 and, in Paris, in a place which in the 19th century was the Eden Theater then a cycle ride, is installed le musée du perfume since 2015. How does this new Perfume Theater differ from the other two?
Charlotte Urbain, culture director at Fragonard: This museum works a bit in the same way as the other two museums since it presents the history of perfume from Antiquity to the present day with the addition of a room dedicated to introductory perfumery workshops. The route is shorter but the objects presented are originals which all have their specificity, such as oriental objects that we do not have elsewhere.
The idea was to present our collection of old bottles in a very surprising Parisian heritage place. This old theater, previously called Théâtre des Capucines, opened in the heart of this district known for its theaters at the end of the 19th century, was directed by the Isola brothers. Among the well-known figures who performed on this small stage, there were notably Arletty, Mistinguett, Gaby Morlay, Sacha Guitry and even Serge Gainsbourg and Barbara at the start of their careers This tiny theater with barely 200 seats, which was called the salt box and experienced its golden age at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. closed in 1973.

When Fragonard took over the place, had the theater been closed for 20 years?
When Agnès and Françoise [qui dirigent avec leur sÅ“ur Anne la maison Fragonard] saw their father Jean-François Costa [petit-fils du fondateur Eugène Fuchs] take this place, it had been closed for 20 years. There was a takeover project by a pharmaceutical laboratory which wanted to destroy everything to make offices and one of the sisters said: “It’s too bad, we must save this heritage.“
Opened in 1993, it was closed again during Covid in 2020 and never reopened. It was necessary to redo the scenography and the staging to rediscover the history of the place. Antoine Ricardou, with whom the house has worked for several years, took care of the renovation: the idea was to rediscover the atmosphere and mystery of the Théâtre des Capucines. This red scenography, for example, did not exist in the previous configuration of the museum. Red carpet, subdued lights, ceiling moldings and central platform recall the atmosphere that must have reigned there in the last century!

Furthermore, since the collection of bottles had been greatly enriched, the idea was to redo a museographic tour which tells from Antiquity to the present day, the history of cosmetics, the evolution of ancient bottles and the uses of perfume in different civilizations, mainly Western, through 125 objects from the Fragonard collection.

How is the museum journey structured?
Upstairs, the route begins in the small gallery, these are the old corridors of the theater. We start with windows dedicated to Antiquity, particularly Egyptian. It is one of the civilizations whose uses of perfume are known and documented thanks to objects both profane and sacred from excavations.
Then we move on to the 17th century with these extraordinary pomanders – the term comes from amber apple – very numerous in the Fragonard collection because it was a passion of Jean-François Costa. These are chased silver objects in which you put odorous substances. You have to imagine that in medieval Europe, we emerged from these great plagues where water and bad odors were considered vectors of disease. The population then protects itself by surrounding itself with good smells. They were very strong, often animal smells that have since disappeared from perfumery – civet, musk, amber. It was also in the form of bark for plant materials.

In the next window, we see bottles, the first in glass from the Bernard Perrot factory, very famous in the 17th century. Distillation appeared in the 16th-17th century with the first eau de Cologne: to distill is to have a perfume in alcoholic form. It’s an Arab-Persian invention and, in Europe, from there we will make perfumes differently. Before distillation, we instead have concretes: perfumes trapped in a solid material, either maceration with wine or other alcohols or pastes made from animal fat allowing the odorous materials to be infused.

The idea of ​​this exhibition is also to present the city of Grasse with all its mythical flowers – violet, mimosa, orange blossom, tuberose, iris, Centifolia rose, narcissus, lavender and citrus. The people of Grasse realized that everything grew very well, particularly perfume plants, and so developed this industry. Initially a town of tanners: it became a town of perfume with Catherine de Medici returning from Italy with perfumed gloves. The corporation of glovers-perfumers turned mainly to perfumery in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was also the time of the colonies which made it possible to bring back raw materials like vanilla.

We continue in the large gallery with the 18th century and the discovery of the toilet with all these rituals of washing, of powdering oneself, which will make France famous, of French luxury, notably represented by Marie Antoinette, who brought very floral perfumes to fashion, with rose, orange blossom. We are far from the very heady, very powerful, very strong perfumes of Louis XIV based on civet and musk. We discover quite exceptional bottles since the 18th century is known for its know-how, its incredible goldwork with very precious objects in gold, small necessary boxes in Galucha, in precious stones but also in addition to the boxes, fly boxes as well.

If wearing perfume was an element of outfit, it was also an element of one’s rank and one’s power over others because these objects allowed one to show off one’s wealth. In the 19th century window, slightly more fanciful objects are displayed with small lorgnettes, which refer to the place in which we are, the Perfume Theater, as well as crystal bottles with very precious materials, stones. There is also a series of Overlay bottles, filigree and striped glass pastes; it is a crystal cut into superimposed layers of color. We end the visit in the 20th century which saw the birth of the glassmaker-perfumer-couturier trio (like, for example, Schiaparelli), the perfume houses then creating identifiable olfactory signatures. We also exhibit our house bottles like this old bottle from the glassmaker Lalique which sits next to our brand new model designed by Antoine Ricardou for our hundredth anniversary.

The course ends with a workshop. The idea is to offer, after the historical part, a slightly more immersive practical part where you test your nose. This allows us to explain to our visitors how the creation of a perfume works since our great particularity at Fragonard is to be at the same time producer, distributor and collector. If in Grasse, people who visit our factories see the manufacturing of perfumes, in Paris we did not have this aspect. So, for example, the one dedicated to the three notes allows you to smell the head, heart and base notes which constitute the pyramid of a perfume.

In addition to the perfumery aspect, Fragonard is also the fashion and costume museum in Arles since 2025. How was this showcase of Provençal heritage collections received?
The results are really positive, we are happy because there was very strong enthusiasm. We realize that we occupy a place which was very expected because the Arlesians have many traditions and are very attached to their costume: they have a queen [c’est la représentante officielle de la culture, de la langue et des traditions du pays d’Arles. Présente en tenue traditionnelle, elle doit assurer une magnifique représentation du costume lors des événements culturels de la ville].

I think they were delighted to know that not only the collections of Odile and Magali Pascal [historienne et fondatrice du centre de recherches sur le costume d’Arles] remained in Arles but were also going to live there. We have collaborations and loans with other museums and institutions. Agnès and Françoise continue to make numerous acquisitions to bring the collections into dialogue with each other and we will inaugurate the exhibition on May 21, in Arles. Amazons! Cavalières et icônes de mode while our Provençal Museum of Costume and Jewelry in Grasse will offer, Filled with color!

Fragonard is also art with the Jean-Honoré Fragonard Museumà Grasse depuis 2011 ?
The cultural policy of the house was initiated by Jean-François Costa but it was especially his daughters who gave such an important cultural dimension. He was an art enthusiast who collected a lot for himself and it was somewhat by chance that he became interested in perfume. The first painting by the painter Jean Honoré Fragonard acquired by Eugène Fuchs was The sacrifice of the rose. Jean-François Costa decided to open this museum so that the people of Grasse could see paintings by the city’s famous child. From June 19, exhibitions will be held there Fragonard, the darling of Grasse et Who’s afraid of flowers?

What do you have planned for this 100th anniversary?
We are creating a new bottle with orange blossom, our legendary perfume. It is a new creation by Daniela Andrier who had already created our orange blossom in 2004. For this anniversary, there are also other products: a silk scarf, a fougassette soap, a nod to the mythical Grasse brioche with orange blossom, and its soap dish, a candle Century amber and saffron in a box that represents our historic factory.

Other projects in 2026?
The aspect that we are developing in addition to the cultural part is the opening of the perfumer’s farmhouse, a place surrounded by fields of flowers in this historic cradle of perfume in Provence. In 2017, Grasse was listed as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, particularly in this know-how and the cultivation of perfume plants, in which we have invested.
This house surrounded by an estate of almost 1000 m² is dedicated to the art of perfume and the Provençal art of living. On six hectares, emblematic flowers of the region are cultivated and picked according to the know-how of yesteryear: we have planted roses, orange trees, verbena, jasmine, tuberose rose… This place of production will be open to visits, always with this rather educational idea, since most of our museums are free, except the one from Arles. In the 1930s when we opened the Grasse factory to the public, it was with the idea of ​​sharing our know-how and showing the manufacturing process: this idea continues and constitutes the spirit of the house.