Secret Perfume portraits

Villa Seligmann Nacht Der Museen 2026

In the shadowed halls of Villa Seligmann, secrets are rarely forgotten. In 1906, Ferdinand Wagner graced the grand stairwell with five grand neo-baroque illusions: "The Five Senses." But when the world fractured into war, two of them—the intimate "Touching" and the ethereal "Smelling"—vanished into the ruins, lost along with the home that held them in 1931. For decades, the senses remained incomplete. Yet, art has a way of returning from the shadows. In 2025, during the spectral stillness of the "Night of the Museums," artist Avi Albers Ben Chamo invoked a modern specter: "TOUCH: Ein Kunstwerk der Begegnung." It was a plea for physical connection in a detached world. Now, the circle closes. On June 6, 2026, at Hanover’s Museum Night, Ben Chamo brings the final, missing element back home. With the debut of The Perfume Portraits—a new olfactory bridge over a century of devastation—the sense of "Smelling" is resurrected. Behold the homecoming of the lost sense. The Perfume Portraits Nacht Der Museen Hannover | Saturday, 6. June 2026| 6 pm to 11 pm