Tonight with the Impressionists, Paris 1874, is a new virtual reality experience that will take spectators on a journey back in time to relive the inauguration of the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris on April 15, 1874. This experience was jointly developed and produced by Excurio, GEDEON Experiences and the musée d’Orsay, with the scientific assistance of curators Sylvie Patry and Anne Robbins.
After welcoming over 300,000 visitors in Montréal with Horizon of Khufu and Life Chronicles, the PHI Studio team now turns to one of the most iconic moments in the history of art with Tonight with the Impressionists, Paris 1874, making its Canadian premiere.
In spring 2024, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, Excurio and GEDEON Experiences presented this unique immersive experience at the musée d’Orsay, also co-producers. Running alongside the exhibition entitled Paris 1874. Inventing Impressionism, the experience was held in the museum’s Galerie Amont.
This experience was developed and produced jointly by Excurio, GEDEON Experiences, and the musée d’Orsay, under the curatorial direction of Sylvie Patry, General Curator of Heritage, artistic director, Mennour, Paris at musée d’Orsay, and Anne Robbins, Curator of Paintings, Musée d’Orsay, who also served as curators of the exhibition.
ABOUT THE VR EXPERIENCE
Paris, April 15, 1874, 8 p.m.
Wearing a virtual reality headset, visitors are plunged into the Paris of the time, in the bustling Madeleine district, opposite the great Garnier Opera House still under construction. They are then invited by a virtual guide, Rose, a model and aspiring writer, to wander through the streets to the studio of the famous photographer Nadar, at 35 Boulevard des Capucines, where the famous exhibition in 1874 is to be held that evening. This is when their visit begins.
Transported to the first floor of the studio, they explore room by room, discovering some of the greatest Impressionist masterpieces, displayed together for the first time. In the hushed atmosphere of this unique place, they meet the painters themselves, when they were still young artists with uncertain futures.
The visitors cross paths with Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, and even their famous art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, without whom this exhibition would not have been possible. As they stroll along, interludes also take them outside these walls to places that marked the early days of the movement, which had not yet acquired its name. They find themselves transported to the Salon de Peinture et de Sculpture – held at the time at the Palais de l’Industrie, to painter Frédéric Bazille’s studio – where the idea for this exhibition was conceived, to Grenouillère Island on the banks of the Seine – where Monet and Renoir painted together, and to Monet’s hotel room in Le Havre – where he created his famous painting Impression, Sunrise.
From Paris to Normandy, visitors are invited to take a journey into the world of Impressionism alongside its painters, who, through their boldness and determination, were about to revolutionize the art world.
AN EXPERIENCE BASED ON HIGHLY DETAILED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
This ground-breaking immersive virtual reality expedition is the culmination of over two years’ exceptional research, bringing together the sources needed to reproduce Nadar’s studio and the exhibition itself as faithfully as possible. From Cadastres to aerial photographs, studio archives, the exhibition catalogue, the artists’ correspondence and critics of the time, all these documents have been carefully studied alongside experts in architecture and heritage, the Impressionist movement, 3D reconstruction and virtual reality to bring this historic moment to life for the first time.
All of this research was then reviewed and enriched by the teams at the musée d’Orsay, and in particular by curators Sylvie Patry and Anne Robbins, two of the leading experts on the Impressionist movement.
The virtual reality experience will be enhanced by two mediation areas at the beginning and end of the visit, designed and produced by GEDEON Experiences. The first will take visitors on a journey to the Paris of the early 1870s, with first-rate archives depicting a capital undergoing major architectural, social and artistic change. The second, designed in partnership with Voyages Impressionnistes, will offer a poetic insight into the continuation of the Impressionist adventure, post-1874, by anchoring the journey and the works of the painters in the French territories that inspired them, from Paris and its region to Normandy, not forgetting Provence.
Just the Details
Tonight with the Impressionists, Paris 1874 will be presented starting June 20, 2025, at Arsenal Contemporary Art.
The experience is available in French, English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and is accessible to guests aged 8 and up.
To book your tickets, visit their website.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The presentation of Tonight with the Impressionists, Paris 1874 was made possible with the support of the Consulate General of France in Quebec and was made possible with the financial support of Tourisme Montréal. We would also like to thank La Presse as our media partner.
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