Die Kunst des Geruchs
“What counts most is finding new ways to get the world down in paint on my own terms.” --Michelangelo
Grenouille, the main character from the book Perfume, has views very much alike the incredible and famous artist Michelangelo. Like Michelangelo, Grenouille is an artist. Grenouille is in fact not a malicious murder but rather inspired artist. Grenouille is just trying to find new ways to get the world down in perfume, rather than paint, in his own terms. To be an artist you must be able to create art. Perfume seems like a bizarre item to call artwork, but a closer look at this so called “normal” object will reveal the truths about it. Art is something or the action of doing something that animates one or more of the senses. Perfume animates your sense of smell. “Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel (Holmes, Oliver Wendell).” To be able to create something that is art, you are an artist; creating perfume is art. Many things from Süskind’s book point to this as well.
In the beginning part of the book Süskind tells us that Grenouille’s talent can only be compared to those talents of a “musical wunderkind”. Music is a fine art. Süskind chooses to compare Grenouille to someone who makes art simply because Süskind feels this way about Grenouille. Perfume is Grenouille’s music. He is an artist. “Perhaps the closest analogy to his talent is the musical wunderkind who has heard his way inside melodies and harmonies to the alphabet of individual tones and now composes completely new melodies and harmonies all on his own (Süskind 30).”
“If there was no fuel in the kiln and my wife was the only fuel left, I would use her to keep my artwork burning (Picasso, Pablo).” Pablo Picasso is a well known artist; he says that he would sacrifice the life of a woman for his artwork. Why is it wrong for Grenouille to do the same? Without the scent of the...