Monet & Friends Alive Immersive Experience Review
Step inside the masterwork paintings of Claude Monet and other Impressionist artists during Monet & Friends Alive – Life, Light & Color. Monet & Friends Alive is a unique immersive exhibit that allows you to see Impressionist artworks like never before.
Monet & Friends Alive – Life, Light & Color is brought to life by Grande Experiences, the same company behind the globally acclaimed Van Gogh Alive experience. The production uses the unique and immersive SENSORY4™ technology to bring paintings from the Impressionist period to life through vibrant visuals and an inspired musical score.
Breathtaking paintings from Claude Monet and his contemporaries like Pissarro, Renoir, and Cézanne are projected on enormous canvases to make the details larger than life.
This is a traveling exhibit that is making its way around the world. I saw it when it was on display at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
Monet & Friends Alive – Life, Light & Color Review
Your journey through Monet & Friends Alive begins in a gallery room with traditional museum-like exhibits detailing the life and works of Claude Monet and his Impressionist contemporaries.
The informational plaques cover brief details of each feature artist’s life and notable works as well as life in 19th century Paris, the Impressionist movement as a whole, and the relationship between light, color, and sound presented in the experience.
Armed with this knowledge, you’ll enter the main immersive experience.
Projections of Impressionist artworks illuminate oversized canvases on the walls and floors of the event space. You are able to move about the room, or you can pick a bench or a spot on the floor to sit and enjoy the 45 minute show.
The paintings are displayed on the screen in time with a musical score including songs by including Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and Offenbach. The Impressionist works are at times interspersed with quotes from the artists and stock footage that relates to the works on the other screens.
At times, the display animates portions of the paintings, bringing to life the ripples in the water or the wind through the flowers, but the majority of the paintings are splashed across the screen one after another.
There is also another small part of the experience: an immersive photo display where you can become part of a Monet-inspired painting with a bridge over waterlilies. Where this is displayed depends on the venue.
What Was Great About the Experience
- I loved learning about each artist before entering the experience. I learned a lot that I didn’t know before.
- The larger-than-life paintings and score were beautiful, and it was a great experience to see them displayed like that.
What Was Not So Great
- The experience didn’t have very comfortable seating options. There were very few benches, and most people had to sit on the hard floor.
- It wasn’t as immersive as other experiences I’ve been to. It was great seeing the paintings displayed on a large scale, but it was really just images on a screen moving slightly, not a lot of immersion into the paintings as expected.
Monet & Friends Alive Details
Monet & Friends Alive – Life, Light & Color has ended. Check back for updates on new locations!
Ticket prices typically range from $20-$30 per person.
You should allow 45-75 minutes to walk through the full exhibit.
Looking for more immersive experiences?
Do you just love visiting immersive experiences? Me too! Check out these immersive experience reviews:
- Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience — Review
- Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience — Review
- Stranger Things: The Experience Review
- Art of the Brick Immersive Experience Review
- Harry Potter: The Exhibition Review
- Save the Video Store: An Immersive 90s Experience Review
- Mad Hatter’s (Gin &) Tea Party Review
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Cheers!
Paige
Have you visited the Monet & Friends immersive experience at the Biltmore in Asheville? Let me know in the comments!
This looks amazing! I would love to see it.
You should check to see if it’s coming near you any time soon!
Great posts. Looks like you had a fantastic experience. I will have to add it to my bucket list. Thanks for sharing.
It may be coming near you sometime, so be sure to check it out!
I’ve seen immersive Van Gogh and I absolutely loved it! This is next on the list!
If you like the immersive Van Gogh then you’re sure to like the immersive Monet!
I’ve heard such good things about these immersive exhibits – this Monet one looks fabulous!
The immersive exhibits can be so fun! I’ve done three exhibits like these and a couple other immersive experiences, and they’ve all been so unique and incredible.