The water lily paintings by the artist Claude Monet are world famous. In a 360-degree exhibition, thanks to digital technology, the public can literally immerse themselves in the works of the great impressionist, become part of his landscapes and look over the painter’s shoulder in the studio – a gigantic intoxication of color and the senses.
Monet with all senses
Claude Monet – an artist introduces himself: “I was only 17 at the time, but I knew I wanted to be a painter and paint like a bird sings.” The Stuttgart adventure show focuses on all the senses.
Monet’s recreated garden even smells of lavender and water lilies. Above all, however, the latest digital technology ensures that you can get very close to this famous impressionist, his works and their creation.
Monet has his very own way of playing with colours
The first part of this exhibition experience provides an insight into Monet’s studio and his work. Several oversized replicas of various water lily paintings by Monet hang in the long corridor.
Immerse yourself in the works of Claude Monet – that’s what the exhibition in Stuttgart promises.
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© Luke Schulze
Producer Nick Hellenbroich points to an easel of sorts showing the different layers of paint Monet used. Monet did not mix the colors on the palette, but applied them side by side and on top of each other.
“We animated this process of creation by repeatedly showing the different layers of paint and animated the whole thing to music by Debussy,” says Hellenbroich. As if by magic, the colors mix until the complete picture emerges.
play of light and colour
The whole thing also works the other way around: another water lily picture suddenly dissolves into its individual color pigments and looks like a flokati carpet that has come to life.
And a third can be scrutinized so closely that even the finest brushstrokes and fractures become visible. Here they want to show what impressionism actually means, says Nick Hellenbroich, namely the play of color and light.
Monet was not concerned with the subject, but with the mood. “It is largely reflected by light and ultimately by colour.”
Monet’s garden as a Disney paradise
Monet’s garden is a sophisticated mixture of show, animation and lots of gimmicks to make art come alive. You can photograph yourself in Monet’s haystack or join the picnic group in the countryside.
You can design your own water lilies and place them in an animated water lily pond or dance with the pictures. Monet’s replica garden house from Giverny, the Japanese bridge, the plastic lianas hanging everywhere, the neat curved garden benches – that has something of Disney.
The creators are concerned with bringing games, fun and art down to an entertaining, even commercial, denominator.
A gigantic intoxication of colors and senses
It is the climax of this somewhat different art experience: A huge hall, all the walls around it are used, the floor also dissolves into changing images.
A gigantic intoxication of colors and senses that actually makes you a little dizzy at first. Over 100 of Monet’s works are on display.
The scenery changes constantly: Scenes from Monet’s private life, then wallpaper suddenly unfurls and you find yourself in the legendary Paris Salon of 1874, Monet’s first major exhibition.
Monet saw his art as a spectacle
Art purists might criticize Monet’s garden as a spectacle. But to be fair, one has to say: The great master Monet set the course himself.
Claude Monet had a studio built on his property in Giverny, which should offer enough space for his wall-sized works. The Museé de l’Orangerie in Paris followed suit.
In 1920, two new oval exhibition halls were specially created to show Monet’s gigantic water lily paintings – pictures up to 17 meters wide, in which the public was supposed to immerse themselves even then.
