Introduction of Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass
In 2019, the Louvre launched its first virtual reality experience, Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, during the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. Through the immersive experience, the audience would be able to appreciate the famous art piece at a close distance and learn the details behind it. This is an application of VR in the fields of both education and tourism.
Why do I like it?
I physically visited the Louvre in 2018, and have seen the Mona Lisa with my own eyes. However, about 30,000 tourists come to visit the Mona Lisa every day from around the world, and undoubtedly I was only able to take a quick look at the famous art piece from meters away in the crowd. The presence of Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass provides me with a brand-new experience of visiting the painting virtually, which allows me to closely study the painting and explore the mysteries of the Mona Lisa in no hurry. As the audience, I love the interactive design of the application and I appreciate its educational value. With this application, more people would be able to “visit” Mona Lisa and learn more about this great masterpiece.
Why is it engaging?
The understanding of art should not only be learned by explanations, but by experience as well.
The design of this application is interactive, with sound, images, and animations. The virtual experience follows a storytelling style. The story of the Mona Lisa is told during the virtual tour, and the details of the painting are presented to the audience with clear explanations. Different sides of the Mona Lisa are presented to the audience so that the audience can understand the painting in more aspects.
What features are well done?
One amazing feature of the application is that the audience is able to see how the look of the painting changes over the years in the virtual space. It is what the audience cannot see in the real world, but this virtual application gives the audience the chance to view history. It is also amazing that a 3D model of Mona Lisa is built into the application, so the audience can see the woman in 360 degrees and watch her elegant moves.
What features can be improved?
From my own perspective, this is a rather perfect application and it is an art piece itself. If I have to give some advice for improvements, I would suggest that maybe the view of the landscape of the painting at the end of the virtual tour can be presented in a more real-world view instead of in a painting style, so the experience can be more genuine to the audience.
References
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/get-close-mona-lisa-once-lifetime-experience-180976439/