Culture & art topics

Monet the immersive experience

~ a view on the world through the eyes of Monet ~
~ une vue sur le monde à travers les yeux de Monet ~

Thomas More
Ulrike Van Essche
1ITLB
R0739027
Year of 2020
Table of Contents
1. An opinionated Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
2. A brief explanation of the History of impressionism -------------------------------------------------------- 3
3. An interesting, concise lifecycle of the painter ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4
3.1 Timeline ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4
3.2 A taste for Japan-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.3 The start of his cataract----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
4. The marriage between science and art -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
4.1 The color palette ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
4.2 The liveliness of light -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
4.3 His influence on our very own Belgian art ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
5. The Horta Gallery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8
5.1 The building-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
5.2 Booking a ticket --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
5.3 The experience---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
5.4 The cherry on top: The VR and workshop experience ------------------------------------------------------ 12
5.5 A preview of the experience--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
6. Other attractions for Monet enthusiasts---------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
7. Conclusion and recommendation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
8. Bibliography ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15

1|Page
 1. An opinionated Introduction

At first, I was planning to write about the Historium in Bruges as it is my favorite museum in Belgium
of all time. It takes you through the story of Bruges and one of Jan Van Eyck’s paintings when he was
still an apprentice. But then the first week of February, on my Facebook feed, popped up the event to
go to the Monet immersive experience in Brussels and I immediately got a ticket for that same
weekend. The whole immersive concept sounded so amazing to me. Later that week, my dad decided
to join me to the gallery, since it is his favorite artist and paintings style. The next day we went together,
and it was a wonderful experience.
If I would have to put the difference between impressionism and the Flemish primitives in words, I
would say: The Flemish primitives painted definitions, almost picture like. While impressionism is like
a quote. Although I love Jan Van Eyck’s sometimes gossipy nature and paintings, like in the Arnolfini
portrait where he implies the lady in green is pregnant before marriages, which was not done at that
time. I love seeing and feeling the way Monet saw the world more. I would need a new pair of eyes to
see what he saw. With an impressionist painting, you can either agree that it is, for example, the Palace
of Westminster in London, or you can see something entirely different. In a pop-culture mindset, you
could see the castle of Mordor or in a touristy mindset you might see Venice in its older days. This is
exactly the reason I would call it a quote. It makes you think about what is shown. And you as a viewer
can choose what you see. A painting from Monet also gives across the perception of the Day, moment,
building or place he had while painting it. He did this by playing with different forms of light and the
combination of different colors which I will get further into later in this paper. A clear example of this
different “atmosphere” can be seen in the 19 paintings of the Palace of Westminster, where each
painting gives across a different “feel” to it. In a way, this “feeling”, makes their paintings more real
than the ones of Jan Van Eyck. Or maybe that is just my opinion. But I believe that a picture may say
more than a 1000 words, because you will remember way longer how something made you feel than
the words that were said. And for that reason, I chose to write about the Monet immersive experience.
In this paper, I will discuss the history of Monet, the history of impressionism, the combination of
science and art used by Monet, The Horta gallery and will go into detail about the experience and the
appeal and the trend of the immersive experiences. Hopefully, it will make you excited to go visit the
Monet experience before it disappears.

This is my impression of myself.

I have put on glasses to look through the eyes of
Monet and will be your guide throughout this paper.

2|Page
 2. A brief explanation of the History of impressionism

Impressionism first emerged in France and was the first distinct, radical art movement. It was a new
way of painting that focused on attempting to capture the impression of a scene or emotion the
artist had while looking at the scene in front of him. In 1870, a batch of painters worked roughly
together attempting to capture the impression on a canvas. These painters painted in a style that
isn’t realistic, nor highly finished. They chose subjects that were neither classical nor historical. This
way they were rebelling against classical art matters and embraced a previously unpopular
modernity. They created works with a desire to represent the real world in which they lived. This
new way of painting was ridiculed by critics and society at first but was later seen as a needed
departure from convention and is linked to the second industrial revolution that was happing in
France at the time.
It began when artists such as Claude Monet were fed up with the rejection of their work by The
Salon, which was the annual, all-important exhibition held by Académie des Beaux Air. Their work
was rejected every time because it did not align with the Salon’s conservative regularities. In the
1860’s this Salon was the Generic way to become recognized as an artist in Paris.. To compromise,
Napoleon the third organized Salon des Refusés, which ended up gaining more popularity than the
regular Salon. This have rise to the popularity of Monet, Pierre-Auguste, Renoir and Edgar Degas.
Around ten years later, the group of new popular artists planned a private exhibition. Although it was
not majorly popular with critics at the time, it was a ground-breaking exhibition. It re-evaluated art’s
current use and habit of colors, techniques and general aesthetics to promote new ones. The
previous ideologies or moral life lessons in paintings made place for the depictions of the world in
the eyes of the artist. These artists independence and ambition for their own movement was
reflected in the growing numbers of private art dealers, as it didn’t only liberate the artists but also
the collectors, galleries, dealers and viewers. It was the start of sharing a new and fresh world.
The influence of impressionism spread throughout the European union and eventually the United
States. They aimed to be real in a different way than the Flemish primitives sought after creating the
real. They considered real as something that came with a feeling, a certain atmosphere, a
momentary, sensory view upon a scene. Objects, people and animals were now painting on the eye
of a fleeting instant. The impressionist painters were the first to move from the studio to the
outdoors to achieve this effect. “Peinture en plain air.”

The key ideas of impressionism are abandoning the traditional linear

perspective and avoiding the clarity of forms. They lightened their
palettes and loosened their brushwork. They extended the possible
subjects for paintings and captured the world as they saw it. In their
eyes, it could not get more real than that. They used scientific ways,
recognizing that what the brain understood from what the eye saw
were 2 different things. They used optical light effects to convey
changes in time or weather. They recorded the mid 19-th century
renovation of Paris, such as constructed railway stations, wide tree-
lined boulevards, and public leisure.

3|Page
 3. An interesting, concise lifecycle of the painter
3.1 Timeline

1848 1859 1872

Napoleon the third Darwin formulates the Jules Vernes publishes Around
Proclaims the 2nd French Empire theory of evolution the World in Eighty Days

1840 1855 1869 1874

1926
Born in Paris Monet works as a Monet’s works are For the first time Monet
Monet dies
cartoonist rejected in the salon. He exhibits the painting
1859 has economic problems Impression, Sunrise. That
Monet studied at the and tries to kill himself by gives its name to the
Académie Suisse, where jumping into the Seine movement
he meets Pissarro and
Courbet

As previously mentioned, Monet was the starter of Impressionism. The

movement was named after his painting, “impression, soleil Levant”. The
Artist was born on November 14, 1840 in Paris. He and his family moved
to Le Havre when his father’s business was unsuccessful. His school’s
notebooks were full of amusing sketches of his teachers. Later, these
sketches provided him some income while it was also his introduction to
other artists. Monet started his serious studies in the painters’ field
under instruction of master Ochard and his other master Boudin. Boudin
was the one he followed to paint outdoors for the first time.
Monet was a hands-on learner. He was not a “well-trained” artist, having
plenty of eschewed traditional art education early in his life. Instead, he
found support in traditional educational settings and exchanged ideas
with other artists, such as Renoir and Manet.
In 1859 he went to Académie Suisse, where he was introduced to the
study of nudity. 2 years later, he left to serve in the military in Algeria, but health conditions brought
him back soon. Enforced by his already many trips and important meetings he started his journey of
impressionism.
The second half of his life he had spent in his atelier in Giverny. Not interested in what other people
would think, he organized the interior into his favorite attribute, which he is most known for: the use
of color.

4|Page
 3.2 A taste for Japan
Monet seldom left Europe and surely never visited Japan. But then why did we find so many
Japanese woodblock prints at his home in Giverny? Like any other artist, Monet considered the
Japanese culture as very artistic and he developed an interest in its artworks and drawing styles.
Artists from the east had a completely new aesthetic approach. As Monet liked to explore and learn
about new styles and breaking to standard norms, he was enthusiastic by these art forms. Monet
started collecting woodblocks by the greatest masters, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, etc. This is also
where the interest for Japanese engravings compelled plenty of other painters as well. Monet had
first discovered these batches of prints in a Dutch merchant’s store in Holland. He becomes a real
collector later, with the slow supplementation of artwork by the artwork. To eventually end up with a
total of 231 prints. He favored art pieces with scenes of women or animals in their daily occupations
and especially the artworks about Western people made by the Japanese.

Monet never made any Japonism, but the way Japanese art influenced
his style and the way he saw the world can be seen in parts of his work
as early as the 1870’s. This influence can be noticed in the chosen
subjects of his own art, in the composition of his paintings or in the
choice of light. Monet builds his paintings with a serpentine balanced
or oblique line by a vertical line, just like the Japanese prints. It can also
be seen in his choice of where he places the subject on his canvas. The
main subject is pushed towards the side, as it is part of the whole and
not the focus. This way of presenting situations is very Asian-like
minded. This is not to say that Monet copies the Japanese style. While
the Japanese artists enjoyed featuring dramatic moments or an
anecdotic, Monet focused on the use of light. He knew how to be
inspired without borrowing.

3.3 The start of his cataract

Cataract is a visual, age-related disorder. Primarily caused by the yellowing and hardening of the lens
with slow progress. In general, this condition interferes with the amount of light scattering and
yellowing. “Nuclear cataract” is the gradual vagueness of the central portion of the lens. It changes the
eye’s ability to focus, altough close-up vision may temporarily improve. It also referred to as second
sight.
Monet’s visual problems started way earlier than 1912, but this is the year he was diagnosed with
nuclear cataract in both his eyes. Changes in his perception of color started at age 65. He could no
longer perceive colors with the same intensity and his paintings showed it in the change in whites,
greens and blues. He shifted towards a muddier yellow and purple color use. After 1915 the change
became even clearer, as his paintings became more abstract with an even more pronounced color
shift. He went from blue-green to red-yellow. By his visual problems Monet’s world now appeared
more yellow. It both troubled and intrigued him. He thought his vision was very foggy, which made it
very beautiful and all the same at the same time.
Monet’s sensitivity to light, color and detail was central to his later work. His forms became less distinct
and his contrast sensitivity declined. His later work is typified by larger brushstrokes, indistinct
coloration and an often absence of light blues. He also experienced problems with working outside,
this is the reason he was wearing that wide-brimmed panama hat when painting outdoors in the
middle of the day. His new way of painting also links the impressionist style with modern abstract art.

5|Page
 4. The marriage between science and art
It is a common misconception that Monet’s art was made spontaneously. In reality, he analyzed his
subjects and their surroundings closely. He planned his paintings and often waited for that perfect day
with the most smog or the least smog to achieve the best results. This can definitely be seen in any of
his series of the same subject (example: the haystacks series). This series capture exactly what
impressionism means. He captured the same subject through the changes of light with light’s effect
and other conditions, trading canvases as the day progressed. His idea to capture an ephemeral
moment in time, a split second in life on the canvas, the impression.

The optical mixture is where Monet didn’t mix his colors but blended them by using layers of paint and
applying the principle of tone division. This blend is only produced in the viewer’s eyes. The retina
perceives the colored spots and simultaneously creates new ones. From a look from afar, the spots
seem to mix into a new one but from up close they split up and are recognized as two colors of its own.
The impressionist colored spots to capture the impression of an instant just as photography did and it
is the human brain that connects these spots.

The artistic study of the changing effects of life and the new way of creating shadows and using colors
was communicated through his paintings. His knowledge and use of light evolved from representation
to sensation.

4.1 The color palette

Monet was known to use a quite limited palette,
banishing all forms of browns and earth colors. (This is
also the reason why there is no black used in this paper)
By 1886, black had also disappeared completely. Monet
had a well-shown habit about the use of color. In his
color theory, he didn’t care much for very flamboyant
colors except for purple/violet (created by glazing cobalt
blue or ultramarine with red), the one color all
impressionists couldn’t get enough of. He made a point
out of using the same colors in completely different
settings, backgrounds or surroundings to give the color
an entirely different outlook or feel. To him, it was only
a matter of a habit, but it shows brilliance to have a
limited palette but no limits in the outcome of his work.
He used and influenced many after him to mainly use the primary colors along with white. These are
now the distinct use of painters that have a cool and warm type of style. Although, often he also added
secondary colors to facilitate mixing landscape greens or complementary colors to contrast the
primary colors. This was to create the shadows where the primary colors fluidly run out into a shadow.
The nine colors on his palette were: Lead white (=titanium white), Chrome yellow (=cadmium tallow
light), Cadmium yellow, Viridian green, Emerald green, French ultramarine, Cobalt blue, Madder red
(=alizarin crimson), Vermilion, Ivory black before 1886.

6|Page
 4.2 The liveliness of light
The use of broken color is presumed to achieve the actual sense of light within a painting. Monet was
an artist obsessed with light. Monet never explained his fascination with light, but it is clearly shown
in the water lilies elicit light and shadows of the passing hours from sunrise in the east to sunset in the
west and other paintings (especially series). He played with how light breaks up on things, moving
along to how light breaks up between things to how light breaks up by itself. He also made use of a
light ground. He painted on canvasses that were white, very pale grey or very light yellow and used
opaque colors. He mixed his colors on his canvas itself, used them straight from the tube or scumbled
colors. This is where he used thin, broken layers of paint that allows layers of colors to shine through.
He worked from dark to light and build up texture through his brushstrokes.

4.3 His influence on our very own Belgian art

Of course, when you think of impressionism your mind goes naturally to

Claude Monet, Pissarro or Renoir. Although this style originated in France, as
a Belgian, you don’t have to cross a border to find a prime example of Belgian
impressionism with Emile Claus. The painter from West-Flanders started out
with painting portraits and realistic pieces. But during a trip to Paris, the
painter encountered the work of Monet and changed his style from natural-
istic realism to his own interpretation of impressionism. He then later also
became the leader of Luminism, a style in which natural light is emphasized
using shadows and breaks. This way he creates an authentic and vibrant at-
mosphere. Claus established nature as his primary element in his work and is
still most famous for his paintings of landscapes. He represented his vision
with soft watercolors and made nature itself almost romantic. His paintings
were predominantly filled with rural society and ordinary men and labor. Alt-
hough hard labor was not the focus of his paintings, he focused on depicting
the harmonious presence in nature. The series where Monet’s influence was
the most visible was the remarkable exception to his natural style. The series
“view of the Thames” that he painted in London as a refugee during the first
world war is the most visibly influenced by Monet series he ever made. The
soul of his work revolved around the effect of light and the unique use of
shadows. It made the shadows almost tangible. Claus painted with an evolv-
ing mixture of Impressionism, passion, Luminism, and Pointillism.

The work of Emile Claus is visible in the fine arts museum in Ghent.

7|Page
 5. The Horta Gallery
5.1 The building
The Horta gallery is an underground area underneath Brussel central station (Brussel-Midi).
What was previously abandoned and a bit spooky, will now be a cultural attraction. It was
known for its unused escalators and was supposed to be a shopping center, but it never
flourished. This had to do with the difficulty in locating the practically, almost invisible place.
Only MOOF, the small museum of strip figures in the basement of the place has been holding
up its business for years.
In the last years, Anthony Horta, a Brussels set designer, took over. He was already
experienced with a carrier in the world of movies and attraction parks, such as the French
Futuroscope and the design of the décor for the Belgian Pavilion that was shown on the world
expo in Shanghai, 2010. He had a dream to make the place into an interactive and digital
museum as part of his Bruseum plan.
The front room previously still open for passers-by, as an underground passage from the
station to Grasmarkt, has become a digital museum. When Victor Horta designed the central
station, he also drew an underground passageway. This was built in the fifties.
The paperwork around the plan is still not completed at the time I am writing this. Therefore,
in the meantime, he is already trying to give life to this project by the creation of already 2
active parts. The C12 and since November the Monet immersive exhibition.
The room itself gives off the feeling of entering a chic, old hotel interior. It feels like you are
taken back in time with the giant pillars and long stairs. The combination of that nostalgia and
the high tech used in the room is incredible and fulfills the trends of today. The feeling of
nostalgia is a rising trend in tourism as is the storytelling version of art in museums. The most
popular museums these days aren’t about just showing paintings or other forms of art
anymore. It are those museums that take their visitors in the world/story of an artist that are
the most successful.

There was a high need in Brussels for a countercultural place since Cultural Centre Reclart
has shut its doors due to a dispute with the NMBS and in Kapellekerk is a threat of music
falling silent. C12, the nightclub owned by Horta’s son, has turned the back room into a new
multidisciplinary project room, hidden in the back of the gallery. Its purpose is to give artists,
DJ’s and performance artists a place to express themselves and share it with others. It fills a
countercultural gap.

8|Page
The incoming money from these projects is a needed gift to get the full cultural, high-tech
project funded, while they are finishing negotiations and paperwork. Horta also reveals that
after Monet there will be another artist’s immersive experience, but he doesn’t want to
reveal who it will be for now.

5.2 Booking a ticket

Booking a ticket is 11.50€ for students and 65+ and 14.50€ for
all other adults. When you book a ticket, you can choose an
entrance hour. This means you get to enter the gallery
between, for example 10:00 and 11:00. You are allowed to stay
inside the gallery for as long as you like. The average amount of
time spent there are 1,2 hours. If you miss your time slot you
are denied entrance. Booking a ticket goes through
Ticketmaster or Fnactickets, and you will get an email with your
ticket. Upon entrance the ticket can be scanned from your
phone, therefore there is no need to waste any paper.

5.3 The experience

The gallery divided the experience into 3 parts, the immersive experience, Monet’s paintings
& Monet’s history and style in the backrooms and the cherry on top: the VR & workshop
experience. The immersive experience room itself is divided up into 4 parts, the pre-room,
the main-room, the ground floor behind the curtains and the first-floor explanatory room.
When you first walk in, you are in the pre-room. It is a room beautifully styled as Monet’s
“Garden at Giverny”. Probably one of his most famous and magical paintings. The expression
by his use of color is already visible at first glance. You get to walk over the same fantasy-like
bridge as in the painting. Which is also the perfect place for an instagrammable picture.

This is my dad

On the walls on the right, the Garden is also projected in very blue lighting. With an
explanation board about the painting in 3 different languages, like all the explanation boards
shown in the rooms. They all covered good information in French, English and Dutch.

9|Page
On the left, in that same room, you can take a framed picture of you and/or your family inside
of one of Monet’s paintings. There are even different frame sizes depending on what you like
or how large your group is.
Behind the curtains of the pre-room is the main room. This is a two-floor room with a really
high ceiling and large black pillars giving it a 70’s hotel room feeling. Upon entrance, you are
already taken into this seemingly imaginary vision of Monet’s real world. All around you are
the projections of one of the 300 paintings that will be projected throughout the full
experience. Even on the floor are in 3D projected parts of the painting. By use of 100.000
pictures and 60 projectors (I counted them myself) they are brought alive all around you. On
the right side, you have stairs that lead to the upper floor. On the left side, there is a
wheelchair accessible, giant slope to lead you up that same second floor. There is a 70’s safety
fence at the opposite side of the wall on this slope for safety, that blends in perfectly with its
surroundings and is an easy lean-on to watch the projections from a higher ground and makes
you feel like you’re watching from a balcony. It might be a disadvantage to stand higher for
some since it becomes more like a projection and less immersive the higher you get. For
others, this might be a good way to watch the show if you get dizzy easily. One lady felt unwell
watching her moving surroundings and was feeling better when she went higher up the slope.
If you are standing on the ground floor it is no problem that there is no projection on the
ceiling as the walls are so high that from your viewpoint, you just walked in a Monet’s painting.
It is the movement of the objects in the paintings or the paintings itself that makes it all so
realistic. Thanks to the big stairs and the 2 floors it is easy to play with the debt and the
perspective. It also makes the people walking around from time to time or walking up or down
the stairs look like shadows inside the painting. At no point, it was bothersome for someone
to walk up or down the stairs as they looked like real-life Monet painted shadows. There was
a small, gradually inclining mountain made at the bottom of the stairs. Plus, it was strong
enough made for kids to climb on and slide down on. Not that this happened a lot. It is one of
the few experiences where kids were really quiet and immersed in what they were seeing and
hearing. The 2 kids sitting in front of me never stood up and barely moved only to look around
they moved. They were also plenty of kids trying to catch the fish projected on the floor during
the projection of “pond in Japan”, which was an adorable sight. All those aspects plus the
music playing, aligned with the paintings lets you submerge in the impressionist painting style
of Monet.

10 | P a g e
The music made it easier to connect with what you saw. Most of the time
it was relaxing, classical music or something with a slight bid of EDM that
aligned with the atmosphere shown in the painting. It really depended
on the painting which sounds were played. During transitions from one
painting to another, there was the sound of breaking glass, falling leaves
or at a certain point the painting “La Gare Saint Lazare” (a painting of the
then-new steam train and railway station) was projected, there was the
sound of a passing train. This then was followed by the sound an old train
station would make.
Inside this room they had also placed benches, soft mats to lay down on
or even beach chairs for you to sit back and watch. At a certain point,
one staff member came around with a plateau of cups. Followed shortly
after with another staff member offering you coffee, milk, sugar or fruit
juice. All the while you didn’t have to move a single muscle.
The order of the 300 paintings was chronological. An interesting fact they added were the
names and dates of every painting somewhere around the room, like a fun, small egg hunt.
Mid-through the end, if you look closely, you can follow the slight difference before and after
Monet had gotten his cataract vision. During the “final” (there is no real final painting since
the show is put in a loop) projected painting, they also projected the faces of people Monet
knew and was close to. This was an interesting touch to the seemingly unfinished painting that
was projected. To the end of one loop, they played a boomerang clip of Monet himself. Since
the entrance is free at any time within your entrance time frame you could stay in the room
for as long as you please. No one would nag you out of the room.

When you feel like it, you could take a look behind the curtains on the ground floor. There is
a very small themed like Monet gallery of Giverny room you can walkthrough. The walls are
decorated with counterfeit paintings of Monet’s real work. Showing of Monet’s real work
would be much more expensive because of 2 reasons. The first is that it is obviously a real
Monet and just getting it from its current place to Belgium would be an expensive adventure.

11 | P a g e
Secondly the real paintings can only be shown for around 3 months at a time before they need
to go back into storage for a month to preserve the fragile structure of the paintings and its
colors. The most interesting thing about using the copies is that they would let you get really
close up to the paintings, touchable if you wanted to. Having said that, the organizers were
also smart enough to hang the paintings high enough. This way kids under the age of
“understanding that you should not touch painting”, could not reach them.
Walking up the steps to the second floor, the visitors are once again greeted with a 70’s
themed room. This room is a bit larger than the behind the curtains room on the ground floor.
It also has plenty of sitting space, as its interior is decorated with comfortable, nostalgic
couches that seemed to come straight of the set of the that’s 70’s show. This is the room filled
with information on Monet and how he created his art. On the right, they displayed his
timeline and life story. On the left, they explained his passion for Japan and the people and
artwork that influenced his work. In the middle area, they explained how he used science,
colors, and light to create his paintings, this is where most of the information about his artwork
I have talked about in the previous chapters is from. Therefore, I won’t get into it any further.
As a final element to this room, they also left some positive quotes from art-critics and other
artists.

5.4 The cherry on top: The VR and workshop experience

For whoever wants to experience a more intense immersive experience, there is the VR room.
Situated when you leave the main room on the right there is a glass-wall place. Here you will
not only get VR glasses but also headphones to start your journey and go on a walk as the
embodiment of the French impressionist. The full walk will be 10 minutes long. You start your
journey in the house of Giverny and will come to know more and more about the painter’s life
as the story is displayed in front of your eyes. They do, however, need you to pay 2 euros extra
for this part but then again it is only 2 euros. This may be an evil opinion, but if you don’t want
to pay for any extras, I found that it is equally as fun to just watch the people in the VR room
react to what they see and hear.

Opposite from the VR room is a souvenir story with all the typical clothing, mugs and other
objects you don’t really need but want to buy because it has a real Monet painting printed on
it. More interestingly: in the right part of the souvenir shop is a workshop. At certain times
they teach classes here that are mostly for kids, from what I can see from the size of the chairs.
The classes are about the way Monet used the primary colors and how to apply these
techniques yourself. As a visitor, you can draw on the white tables with the colors provided.
They also display see-through, primary color plastics, to really get a feel of the different ways
you can use a single color.

12 | P a g e
When you are about to exit the building, next to the door you will see a visitors’ book. It is a
must to leave a message about your experience or leave a message for someone else. It is a
nice touch for the owner to get more information on what people thought about the
experience. I also highly recommend searching for my very own, “Homega was here”
comment. It is one of Thomas more’s very own student clubs.

5.5 A preview of the experience

6. Other attractions for Monet enthusiasts

In Belgium, The Fine Arts Museum in Tournai is also well known to hold some of Monet’s real work
and other impressionists work such as Manet, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Ensor. It also holds the work of
some primitive artists, for those that are interested in comparing the different styles. Some of Monet’s
work is also open for the public I the museum of modern arts in Liege. Here the famous “the port of le
Havre” is visible.
These museum in neighboring countries also show Monet’s work: Gemeentemuseum(The Hague, Netherlands),
State Museum Kröller-Müller (Otterlo, Netherlands), Museum Boymans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam,
Netherlands), Kunsthalle (Bremen, Germany), Gemäldegalerie (Dresden, Germany), Volkwang Museum (Essen,
Germany), Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt, Germany), Hamburger Kunsthalle
(Hamburg, Germany), Wallraf Rchartz Muuseum (Koln, Germany), Städtische Kunsthalle (Mannheim, Germany),
Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin, Germany), Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Munchen, Germany), Neue
Pinakothek (Munchen, Germany), Staatsgalerie (Stattgart, Germany), Museum der stadt (Wuppertal, Germany),
Eugène Boudin Museum (Honfleur, France), André Malreux Museum of fine arts (Le Havre, France), Museum of
Fine arts (Rouen, France), National customs museum (Bordeaux, France), Unterlinden Museum (Colmar, France),
Museum of fine arts (Dijon, France), Museum of fine arts (Grenoble, France), Museum of fine arts (Lille, France),
Museum of fine arts (Lyon, France), Museum of fine arts (Nancy, France), Museum of fine arts (Nantes, France),
Saint-Denis Museum (Reims, France), Municipal museum of Art and industry (Saint Etienne, France),

AG Poulain Municipal museum (Vernon, France), This is the museum closest to Giverny. Two paintings
were given by Monet to the town, including a rare circular Nympheas.
The Marmottan Monet Museum (Paris, France). This museum holds the largest collection of Monet’s
work and memories, with 87 paintings and drawings. It also contains the famous “impression sunrise”,
palettes he used and the portraits he made of his children.
Musée de l’Orangerie (Paris, France) – currently closed for renovations. The “Les decorations des
Nympheas” that was gifted by Monet to the state to celebrate its 19188 victories are displayed here.
Musee d’Orsay (Paris, France). This museum contains the national collection of works by Monet.

13 | P a g e
 7. Conclusion and recommendation

I definitely recommend visiting the Monet immersive experience while it is still there. It is a beautiful
representation of Monet’s work and the science behind it. Unexpectantly, you can surely see his aim
to capture the fleeting effects of sunlight at different times a day. The immersive experience, with the
projections and the VR, is also the best way to have a look through the eyes of Monet. The creators of
the project have done an amazing job of using current trends to make visiting art places or watching
art interesting for the demanding and fast consumer mindset of today. They used the immersive trends
of VR and AR, the storytelling aspect, the instragammability, the DIY and the gamification aspect.
People nowadays don’t want to visit museums or art exhibitions anymore because they find it boring
to just watch a painting with nothing extra around it. This is also the reason I find exhibitions like this
one or museums like the Historium in Bruges the absolute best.
The exhibition also seemed to be received well by others. It was interesting to watch the fascinated
reactions of others. Especially kids. If something can make a group of kids quiet, it is impressive.

Impressionism has become one of my favorite painter styles. I love the fact they paint what they feel
and see. And I highly appreciate the fact that painters like Monet wait for the perfect day and time of
day to paint, his use of tricking the brain with his technique and that he never let go of his passion even
if everyone is criticizing it at first. He was a great influence on many other artists that came after him.

An aspect of the building that I found incredibly important

to talk about is the wheelchair accessibility of the whole
place. People in a wheelchair can move around the entire
exhibition without needing additional help. They have really
considered all types of people and all types of age groups.
Additionally, I want to talk about The Horta building itself. I
am very excited to see the outcome of their future plans.
They want this previously, mostly unused place to turn in
the cultural hub, Brussel desperately needs. It will also be an
interesting aspect in the future to lure tourists to Belgium.
The owners, however, still need funding while they are
finishing up the required paperwork and therefore create
exhibitions like this one. Which is my final argument to,
hopefully, convince everyone to visit the Immersive
experience.

14 | P a g e
 8. Bibliography

• “Claude Monet in Museums.” Claude MONET in Museums, The Monet Directory and the
Giverny News Blog, 30 Sept. 2006, www.intermonet.com/museums/.
• Devriese, Tim. “Hortagalerij Wordt Tegendraadse Cultuurtempel.” BRUZZ, 2 Feb. 2018,
www.bruzz.be/news/hortagalerij-wordt-tegendraadse-cultuurtempel-2018-02-02.
• Horta. “a Spectacular Audiovisual through Impressionism.” Https://Www.expo-
Monet.be/En/, Exhibition Hub, 1 Nov. 2019.

• “Impressionism Movement Overview.” The Art Story,

www.theartstory.org/movement/impressionism/.
• Marmor MF, Ravin JG. The artist’s eyes. New York, NY: Abrams; 2009. Google Scholar
• “Monet's Collection of Japanese WoodBlocks.” Japanese Bookblock, Claude Monet's
Collection, intermonet.com/japan/.

• “Nuclearsclerosis.org -.” Invisible Hit Counter, www.linkmio.com/site/nuclearsclerosis.org.

• Photos & drawings by: Ulrike Van Essche

• Remon, Régine. “The Treasures of the Fine Arts Museum of Liège (BAL).” La Boverie, The Bal,
11 Dec. 2017, en.laboverie.com/the-collections/the-beaux-arts-de-liege-collections/survey-
of-the-acquisitions-by-the-city-of-liege/the-treasures-of-the-fine-arts-museum-of-liege-bal.
• “Seeing the Light.” Flanderstoday, Flanders Province, 12 May 2009,
www.flanderstoday.eu/arts/seeing-light.
• “The Monet immersive experience.” Horta Gallery, Brussels, visited February 28, 2020

15 | P a g e