By Gale Horton Gay
Painter Claude Monet’s larger-than-life body of work requires a vast exhibition space for a proper display, especially when high-tech wizardry is involved.
Doraville is home to the space where Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience is currently on display and the new exhibition venue is ideally suited for the experience that takes place in multiple rooms of the vast facility.
Through video mapping technology, the digital art experience takes visitors through Monet’s artistic career—from his early years as a caricaturist to his transformation into a world-class artist. The 19th century French painter was the founder of impressionist painting, also considered a precursor to modern art.
This is no simple walk and look at the pretty pictures exhibit. After reading about Monet’s early years, influences and reasoning for use of color in the first display space, visitors are thrust into a massive room where floor-to-ceiling images are displayed on all four walls as well as the floor through 360-degree digital projections. Some components of the painting and backgrounds are manipulated to move and seemingly burst from the walls into the room. Among the categories of his works projected on the walls are:
• Nympheas 1898-1926
• London 1870-1904
• Norway 1895
• Charing Cross Bridge Series 1899-1904
• Venice 1908
• House of Parliament Series 1900-1904
More than 300 of Monet’s paintings and sketches are included in the exhibit. There’s also a replica of a room from his home with walls covered in replicas of his paintings, notes on tables and desks with his writings, a vase holding paint brushes, an artist palette and more. A reproduction of his garden at Giverny, France where he resided and was the inspiration for many of his paintings is another highlight of the exhibit.
Visitors also have the opportunity for a virtual reality exploration of Monet’s works—for an additional $5—at the end of the exhibit by donning virtual reality headsets and being taken on a journey through his art. Tickets range from $20.90 to $52.90.
Last August, Exhibition Hub announced that it selected Doraville as the home for its new Immersive Arts Center in Atlanta and announced Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience and the company’s world-renowned Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience would be featured at the venue.
“We are excited to welcome Exhibition Hub to the City of Doraville,” said Mayor Joseph Geierman. “The Exhibition Hub Immersive Arts Center will provide unique interactive experiences that should attract people from all over the region. This business will be a welcome addition to Doraville’s section of Buford Highway.”
Exhibition Hub’s 50,000-square-foot Immersive Arts Center is located at 5660 Buford Highway, NE in Doraville on five acres near the intersection of I-85 and I-285.
“Our long-term agreement further solidifies Atlanta as one of our flagship cities. Atlanta will be among the first in the country to enjoy our award-winning content,” said Mario Iacampo, chief executive officer of Exhibition Hub. “We could not be more excited about our future in Doraville and Metro Atlanta.” Iacampo continued to say that Exhibition Hub’s Immersive Arts Center will host the company’s own immersive exhibitions, as well as those created from content producers “of the highest quality from around the world.”
Exhibition Hub now has Immersive Arts Centers in 13 U.S. markets including Seattle, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Miami, Schenectady, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston,Washington DC, New Orleans and Grand Rapids.
For more information on Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience, go to monetexpo.com/atlanta.
Read the original story on TheChampionNewspaper.com.
