The Orsay Museum is celebrating 150 years of Impressionism using VR
Beginning on Tuesday, the Orsay Museum in Paris will commemorate 150 years of Impressionism with a virtual reality experience that transports visitors back in time and an extraordinary reassembling of the masterpieces that started the movement.
Visitors to “Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism” may immerse themselves in the salons, streets, and beauty spots that sparked a revolution in art history via the use of virtual reality technology.
With the use of virtual reality helmets, they will be able to walk in the footsteps of artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cezanne on April 15, 1874. This date marks the beginning of Impressionism as these disobedient young painters displayed their own independent show after being turned down by the formal art Salon’s conservative gatekeepers.
A total of 160 paintings from that year have been gathered by the Orsay, including some classics from the exhibition, such as Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” with its blood-red sun, which is credited with giving rise to the movement, and his “Boulevard des Capucines” where the exhibition was held.
The Impressionists depicted commonplace scenes of daily life in quick, instinctive brushstrokes, from Auguste Renoir’s riverbank party in “Bal du Moulin de la Galette” to Camille Pissaro’s bucolic idylls and Degas’s ballet dancers.
They were emblematic of the exhilaration and restlessness of a new, modern era that had emerged from a disastrous war with Prussia and a brief uprising in Paris a few years before.
The exhibition’s co-curator, Sylvie Patry, stated that the Impressionists sought to depict the world as it is, one that is undergoing significant change. They developed an interest in novel topics, such as entertainment, travel, and railroads. She went on to say that their goal was to centre their painting around feelings, perceptions, and the present instant.
Many of the paintings—including Renoir’s “The Parisian Girl” and “The Dancer”—have never been placed together in 150 years thanks to loans from the National Gallery in Washington and other museums.
Works from the official Salon that year are also on display. These pieces demonstrate how the Impressionists rejected the rigid formalism of traditionalists and their fixation with epic battles and myths, but also how there was some crossover as various painters progressively embraced new styles.
According to Patry, the narrative behind the show is more complex than can be fully understood. The painters had started painting in this distinct manner from the 1860s and were all acquainted with one another.
Impressionism did not take off right once. Out of about 200 paintings, only four were sold, and only 3,500 people attended the initial exhibition, compared to 300,000 at the Salon.
Before the movement gained traction, there would need to be a few more exhibits in the next years.
After closing on July 14th, the Orsay exhibition will go to Washington in September.
The extended virtual reality experience runs through August 11, the last day of the Paris Olympics.
