Picture a photographer's studio in Northern Paris decorated with an opulent crimson and gold-hued carpet, housing then-unknowing visionaries of the late 19th-century art movement: Impressionism.
On one corner there's Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas finalizing details on the hanging of their paintings, while on another, fellow painters Berthe Morisot and Camille Pissarro grapple with the lack of recognition their work suffers from, and Claude Monet laments being mistaken for Édouard Manet.
Outside the space, Parisian nobilities bunch up in front of the recently built Opera House to admire it closely alongside others who are sitting in nearby café terraces enjoying a drink, all the while, below them horse-drawn carriages pitter-patter down Baron Haussmann's new boulevards.
This is exactly the image that the Musée d'Orsay's new exhibition, "Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism," is trying to conjure. Opening this Tuesday, March 26, the show will offer visitors a VR-powered glimpse into what that momentous moment of history's art 150 years ago looked and felt like.
'Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism' Exhibition in Musée d'Orsay
When the group of some 30 artists, all of whom will eventually be referred to as the famed Impressionists we know today, met at Félix Nadar's photography studio in Paris on April 15, 1874, their art and artistry were mostly shrouded in obscurity and disdain.
A good chunk of the artist collective was even completely ignored by the jury of annual the Académie des Beaux-Arts Salon, prompting them as a desperate last resort to open their own independent show,
During this time, they were not known as Impressionists and only got the appellation from journalist Louis Leroy, who bestowed the title as a sort of snide remark describing their work, particularly Monet's, as "unfinished."
In the Musée d'Orsay's exhibition opening this Tuesday, visitors will be able to be a part of a 40-minute VR tour of the young Impressionists' breakout show.
In addition, viewers will also be able to "travel" by steam train to Bougival, where many of the artists worked on their art using the developing medium of oil-based painting.
Afterward, the tour leads back to the main exhibition gallery that features Renoir's "La Parisienne" and "La Danseuse," two of the masterpieces that were showcased at the 1874 exhibition in Paris, among other monumental Impressionist artworks.
Musée d'Orsay's Director of Digital Development Agnès Abastado told The Guardian that the "unique and innovative" VR experience was the result of extensive and laborious scientific research, which saw the examination of hundreds of letters that the young Impressionists sent to each other at the time.
As for the recreation of the historic Paris venue during the Impressionists' show, Gedeon Media Group Head Stéphane Millière said they had to find the original architects' plan of the space to recreate it accurately, as there were no photographs of the event ever found.
That said, the VR experience is merely an immersive tool, said Musée d'Orsay General Administrator Perre-Emmanuel Lecerf, aiding the magnificence of the real paintings that await the would-be visitors in the main exhibitions.
"Paris 1874, Inventing Impressionism" will remain open until July 14. For more information, click here.
