As soon as we have placed the VR headset given at the reception of the immersive journey on our faces, the journey begins. In a flash, we are in front of the Opéra Garnier, in Paris. Rose, in period dress, calls out to us and invites us to follow her a few dozen meters further. Be careful when crossing Boulevard des Capucines, the drivers and their teams may lack vigilance and reflexes! The noisy noise of the street contrasts with the soft light which bathes this rapidly changing Parisian district on this evening of April 15, 1874.
Chez Nadar, at 35, boulevard des Capucines
On the ground, somewhat anachronistic blue markings remind us that it is essential to stay within the defined area so as not to get lost. We walk, while our hostess, an aspiring model, explains to us that we are expected at number 35, at the studio of the famous photographer Nadar who is welcoming Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Cézanne, Pissarro for their first exhibition.
These young painters, whose works contrast with the pictorial academicism of the time, are waiting for us, impatient to present their paintings to us and to share their creative process with visitors. Incredible forty minutes of visit, where time seems to stand still on this inaugural evening, officially recognized as that of the great beginnings of Impressionism!
“A major operation around VR”
150 years later, the Musée d’Orsay hung some of the paintings presented at Nadar’s that evening on its walls. 130 major works for a birthday that can also be celebrated in virtual reality. A few meters from the exhibition Paris 1874. Inventing impressionism and permanent collections of the national institution, An evening with the impressionists. Paris 1874 propels the visitor into the heart of an experience shrouded in poetry. Magic ! “This is a major operation on virtual reality, which has nothing to do with the one recently carried out for the exhibition Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise », Explains Pierre-Emmanuel Lecerf, general administrator of the Orsay and Orangerie Museums.
Where, a few weeks ago, only twelve people sitting on a stool could discover the secrets of Van Gogh’s Palettethis time up to 80 people can share, individually or in a group*, the 40-minute experience developed by Emissive (a company specializing in virtual reality behindEternal Our Lady), and Gedeon (company producing documentaries and immersive programs).
A Lego, puzzle work
“It’s an event, because there were no images from the impressionist exhibition of 1874. Furthermore, the interior of Nadar’s building was destroyed in 1989, so we had to reconstruct his workshop,” explains has 20 minutes Stephane Millière, president of Gedeon. Thus, for its teams, an enormous amount of documentation work was necessary, both around the architecture of the place, and to get as close as possible to the hanging of the paintings on that famous evening in 1874. “For We started from the four hundred letters the Impressionists wrote to each other, the critiques of the exhibition… It was a real Lego work, a puzzle! We weren’t sure we would succeed,” explains Stephane Millière.
Four cameras to get your bearings and wander around
The challenge ofAn evening with the impressionists. Paris 1874 also lies in its technical complexity. The visitor is equipped with an HTC Vive Focus 3 headset (the XR Elite was used for the Van Gogh exhibition). With it, no need to carry a backpack with a computer inside, as for Eternal Our Lady. Controlled via Wifi 6E, each headset embeds the “experience” and has a battery life of around two hours.
Its four cameras allow it to find its way perfectly thanks to the countless patterns and symbols on the walls and floor of the exhibition hall. “So the system is coupled with gyroscope and accelerometer data for the top, bottom, horizon line,” says Thomas Dexmier, associate vice president EMEA of Enterprise Solutions at HTC Vive, “the objective is to forget technology in an experience multi-user in large scale “.
Behind the scenes, organizers can control up to a hundred headsets independently. And it’s impossible to collide with another visitor: his silhouette appears among the historical characters that we meet during the visit.
A time machine
At the end of the “expedition” as its organizers like to call it, the traveler leaves satisfied with a 360° stroll finely orchestrated by a scenario which, beyond the “wow” effect of VR, is not lacking to inform, to document this pivotal moment in the history of art. The illusion is indeed there!
Sometimes almost so well done that you find yourself wanting to lean against a wall at Nadar’s, to drink in Cézanne’s words evoking his work. Or to take a thousand precautions while walking on a pontoon of slippery planks to join Renoir executing his painting La Grenouillère in Croissy-sur-Seine. And what a moment when we find ourselves in Le Havre, with Claude Monet, putting the final touches to his founding painting Print, rising sun…
When AI gets involved
You may or may not be a fan of impressionist painting or Paris at the end of the 19th century to enjoy the game. Even asking for more. Even if it means being a little frustrated. Because as beautiful and immersive as the experience offered is, what the visitor sees in their headset remains very “VR PC” in appearance.
And we are already starting to dream of living the same type of experience with, in front of us, real characters with whom we can interact, and why not discuss (AI friend, if you hear me!) . Everything remains a question of time.
Confirmation with Stephane Millière, the president of Gedeon: “We have an extraordinary new tool, which is a time machine. Thanks to him, we feel things, we can experience them. Tomorrow, we will be more and more interactive, we will be able to touch things and people, interact with them, smell smells, the wind… We are only at the beginning of a new world which is opens to us. »
* From March 26 to August 11, 2024 at the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. From 11 years old. Accessible to people with reduced mobility. Full price: 32 euros, giving access to the Paris 1874. Inventing Impressionism exhibition and the permanent collections. Reduced price: 16 euros.