Olfactory artworks: Potential implications for well-being

Olfactory artworks have increasingly been cited as instances of unconventional art forms, yet their relevance for well-being remains anecdotal. This article proposes an alternative account, the ‘Conceptual Model of Olfactory Aesthetic Appraisal and Well-Being’, that shifts the focus from incidental sensory encounters towards a temporally extended and reflective mode of aesthetic engagement. Drawing on representative museum-based installations and interdisciplinary scholarship, it is argued that controlled museological environments enable scents to be experienced as primary art objects rather than as mere triggers of memory or affect alone. Within this theoretical framework, the relationship between olfactory engagement and well-being is neither immediate nor instrumental; rather, well-being is conceptualized as an emergent and state-based phenomenon. The article, thus, offers a non-therapeutic framework for examining how olfactory artworks may intersect with broader well-being-related concerns without instrumentalizing aesthetic endeavours.