After her father Serge Gainsbourg died in 1991, actor Charlotte Gainsbourg left the house she inherited in stylish Saint-Germain-des-Prés exactly as it was. A packet of Smarties stayed by the bed that Serge had shared for 12 years with Charlotte’s mother, the actress and singer Jane Birkin, until their 1980 split.

Several of the Gitanes cigarettes Serge was rarely seen without were left extinguished in an ashtray. Uncorked wine bottles, Worcestershire sauce, Guerlain cologne, his toothbrush: all suspended in place as if Gainsbourg senior might breeze right back.