Argos Fragrances' New Limited-Edition Fragrances Feature Mini Versions of 'Lost' Gustav Klimt Paintings, allowing you to smell like a legend and have literal works of art on each bottle.
Written By - Scarlett Romanov - Beauty Expert & Celebrity Stylist
Welcome to the world of ultra-luxurious niche perfumery. The fragrances are made from the finest, most rare, and expensive ingredients. Luxury, high-quality fragrances in this beauty category range from 200 to several thousand dollars per bottle.
The bottles and packaging are the best and the fragrances to die for. One new fragrance house is making waves in the fragrance community, Argos Fragrances. Surprisingly this is a fragrance house originating in the USA. Not surprisingly, by a Russian/Italian model named Christian Petrovich. One only needs to Google the name to see an extensive resume of modeling and acting accolades.
What sets Argos Fragrances apart? I was lucky enough to get my hands on the house's newest release entitled DANAË, and I also have their Pour Femme and Triumph of Bacchus. The packaging is the best in the industry, and the bottles are thick with a full metal cap, pressure-sensitive micro atomizer/sprayer, and the full metal 3d artwork on the front of the bottle is breathtaking.
The fragrances created by the brand CEO/Perfumer are inspired by Greek/Roman mythology and legends.
The brands' goal is to not only deliver the finest and most beautiful fragrances but to take the wearer on a mythological journey into some of the most romantic and beautiful stories of all time.
Although the fragrance house is relatively new, they are creating some of the most talked-about fragrances on the market and are now taking its fans on another journey with the introduction of the new Artist Series of fragrances.
The Argos Artist Series and line of fragrances highlight great artists in history who have created amazing works inspired by Greek/Roman mythology themes. The 1st artist they have chosen to be featured with their new fragrance DANAË is the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.
Who was this artist? Klimt was full of contradictions. Was he a "scholar or innovator? Feminist or womanizer? Famous artist or humble craftsman? The answer, in most cases, is both," notes Google.
With respect to the first pair of oppositions (scholar or innovator?), Klimt was assuredly both, though not precisely at the same time. Trained as an architectural painter at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, his early work is solidly academic — realist, formal, classical, and conservative.
So conservative an artist was Klimt, in fact, he was elected an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna, and in 1888 Klimt received the Golden Order of Merit from Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I … before, that is, his work was judged obscene — a judgment that did surprisingly little to hinder Klimt's career.
At the end of the 19th century, Klimt abruptly shifted focus. He became a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement, producing some of his most famous Symbolist works during his "Golden Phase," when many of his works contained real gold leaf in tribute not only to his father but to the Byzantine art he saw during visits to Venice and Ravenna. This was the height of Klimt's career when he produced such works as The Kiss, The Embrace, and Fulfillment and Expectation, "probably the ultimate stage of my development of ornament," he said.
Klimt was also an intensely focused and isolated individual. In a piece entitled "Commentary on a Non-Existent Self-Portrait," he writes:
I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women… There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day and day from morning to night… Whoever wants to know something about me… ought to look carefully at my pictures.
Danaë is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt, created in 1907. An example of Symbolism, Danaë, was a popular subject in the early 1900s for many artists such as Titian, Rembrandt, Artemisia Gentileschi, and even Picasso. Danaë was used as the quintessential symbol of divine love and transcendence.
The legend was also reincarnated and glorified during the Middle Ages, when Christianity was the dominant religion. The painting masters of the time revisited the ancient Greek and Roman stories, and even though the legends were centered around Greek/Roman gods, they assumed that they must have been inspired by Christ, and a different interpretation was formulated and painted. In works by Rembrandt and Titian, the legend is interpreted as God shining down on Danaë in a golden light of enlightenment. You can also see in these paintings that a maid is nearby looking on or trying to capture the golden light as if to seek financial gain.
This was to symbolize the ever-present struggle and juxtaposition between the greed present in mortals vs. enlightenment and seeking a relationship with God.
According to the Greek/Roman legend, the King of Argos, Acrisius, went to the oracle in Delphi to inquire about the possibility of having a male heir. The prophet regretfully informed the king that he would never have a son but that his grandson would become a great hero and would eventually kill the king one day. The king became paranoid with fear about the prophecy and locked his daughter Danaë away. The legend states that while imprisoned by her father Acrisius, King of Argos, in a tower of bronze, Danaë was visited by Zeus (Jupiter to the Romans), symbolized here as the golden rain flowing between her legs. It is apparent from the subject's face that she is aroused by the golden stream.
In this work, she is curled in a royal purple veil which refers to her imperial lineage. Sometime after her celestial visitation, she gave birth to a son, Perseus, who is cited later in Greek mythology for slaying the Gorgon Medusa and rescuing Andromeda.
Once it was found that Danaë was pregnant with a child, the king of Argos became infuriated and fearful that the oracle's prophecy was coming to fruition. Not wanting to anger the gods, king Acrisius locked the mother and child inside of a wooden carcass and set them adrift at sea.
Hearing Danaë and the baby's cries, Zeus instructed Poseidon, the god of the sea, to guide the wooden tomb to a remote island.
This is a Sensual and Divine fragrance. Argos DANAË begins to arouse the senses opening with Bright Bergamot and Sicilian lemon. Seductive heart notes of Spicy Pink Peppercorn, Deep Gaiac, Cedar & Cashmere Wood transition slowly. Long-lasting and carnal base notes of Sweet & Sticky Cistus, Spicy Patchouli, Mysore Sandalwood, and Intoxicating Musk leave one enraptured in DANAË'S spell.
Main Accords: Fruity - Sweet - Supple Leather - Warm Spicy
Top Notes: Bergamot, Sicilian Lemon
Middle Notes: Gaiac Wood, Cedar Wood, Cashmere Wood, Pink Peppercorn
Base Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood Mysore, Musk
Each bottle has a solid metal 3d artwork affixed to the front. That is putting it mildly. The 3d artwork was expertly created by Argos Owner/Creator Christian Petrovich. I had a chance to ask him about this process and what it entailed. According to Christian, the original DANAË artwork had to be remastered.
"The complexity of the miniaturization was a challenge," he says. "We approached prominent artists to discuss the finer points of the interpretations, and the colors, etc."
"Every enameled and painted metal art piece is hand-painted with a needling technique. This is the only way to obtain the fine details of the artwork. We want only the best for our clientele, and we want to pay homage to the original artworks by Klimt."
Argos Fragrances established its own in-house enameling atelier in 2020.
He wanted to be able to make this fragrance available all over the world and decided to make some slight changes to the art piece as well as add more colors and symbols.
Once the original was repainted, it was then transformed into a three-dimensional file by an expert graphics artist. From here, the metal plate is formed, and then each piece is painted by hand and then placed in a kiln to bake. Once this process has been completed, the cured plates are then hand drilled and adorned with crystals.
The amount of time that goes into the front artwork alone is astonishing. Then each full metal cap is crowned with a crystal within the brands' logo. A unique metal decal is then placed onto each polished bottle facing the inside of the bottle. The 3d metal artwork is then affixed to the bottle facing outwards on top of the informational decal below.
Even the matt gold cap is a piece of art. Holding this bottle in my hand it is very heavy and weighs over a pound. The bottles are carefully placed inside a specially made box with a tight laser-cut foam to hold its precious cargo securely.
The inside box cover lists the fragrance name, a small excerpt about the story that inspired the making of the precious scent, and the note breakdown. The box has golden lettering and a leather-like outer box covering.
This inner box is encased in an outer shell of a box that is gorgeous. It lists all the ingredients and typical information you would find on a fragrance box, but it's the awe-inspiring artwork that is wrapped around the outside of the box. This is a custom rendering of Gustav Klimt's DANAË blended with the Tree of Life, and it is beautiful.
Today DANAË by Gustav Klimt resides at Wurthle Gallery, Vienna, Austria, but you can own DANAË by Argos Fragrances while supplies last. Since preordering opened up a few days ago, it is painfully evident that this fragrance will not be available long.
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