"Monet's House" is a captivating VR experience that transports you to the heart of Claude Monet's idyllic Giverny home. This immersive game invites you to explore the intimate spaces where Monet lived and worked, enveloping you in the lush landscapes that inspired some of his most iconic Impressionist paintings. As you wander through Monet's house, you'll encounter a selection of his masterpieces, each offering a unique interactive puzzle that unravels the story behind the canvas.
Background
In my final year of Fashion school, I took a class called 'film fashion and Image' where I was introduced to a movie called "Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa. Akira Kurosawa's cinematic masterpiece, "Dreams," has long been celebrated for its ability to transport viewers into a world where reality and imagination intertwine. One particular segment of the film, where a man steps into a Van Gogh painting, was a profound inspiration for me. In Kurosawa's "Dreams," the protagonist's surreal experience inside a Van Gogh painting demonstrates the transformative power of art. It reminds us that great works of art can transcend their two-dimensional canvas and become immersive, living landscapes. This very idea stirred my passion for recreating Claude Monet's idyllic house and his iconic paintings in the virtual realm.
Overview
Monet's House" is a VR game that immerses users in the world of Claude Monet's house and garden in Giverny, offering them a chance to explore the surroundings that inspired the artist. In the game, players can enter a house reminiscent of Monet's own, where they can choose a painting to display on the walls. As they select, the house's environment will transform to reflect the chosen painting. Once users have selected, they can step outside and explore the garden, searching for clues that provide insight into the subject of the painting they've chosen. These clues in the environment help players piece together the puzzle of the painting's creation. The culmination of the experience takes place in front of an easel, where players will engage in an interactive puzzle that gradually unveils the final painting, allowing them to witness Monet's artistic process firsthand. Throughout the game, the environment provides subtle hints and context, providing an engaging way to learn about Monet's process and intentions.
Problem Statement
Despite the widespread appreciation of Impressionist art, many remain distant observers, needing a tangible connection to the artistic process and the artists' nuanced perspectives. Traditional art education methods often fail to convey the depth of an artist's vision and the complexities of their techniques, particularly the way Impressionists like Monet played with light and color to capture a moment's essence.
Features
- Interactive Home Exploration: Users begin their journey in a VR rendition of Monet's home, filled with personal artifacts and historical insights, setting the stage for a deeper connection with the artist.
- Dynamic Painting Selection: Within Monet's home, a virtual gallery allows users to choose from various paintings. This choice dictates the subsequent puzzle environment, ensuring a personalized experience.
- Immersive Puzzle Environments: Each puzzle is set within an environment that mirrors the selected painting's scene, complete with adaptive elements such as time of day and weather, to fully immerse users in Monet's world.
- Educational Narratives: As the puzzle progresses, users receive narrated insights into the Impressionist movement, Monet's specific techniques, and the context of the painting they are reconstructing.
- Technique Tutorials: Interactive sessions within the VR experience allow users to experiment with Monet's techniques, such as capturing light and shadow, offering a hands-on learning experience.
- Ambient Immersion: Including era-appropriate ambient sounds and music enhances the sensory experience and draws users deeper into the Impressionist era.
- Collaborative Features: Options for real-time puzzle collaboration or sharing completed puzzles enhance community engagement and learning.
- Adaptive Difficulty: To cater to a broad audience, the puzzles offer various difficulty levels, making the experience accessible and challenging for users with different skill sets.
- Expert Commentary: After completing a puzzle, users can access expert analyses of the painting, which provide deeper insights into Monet's work and its historical significance.
“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow.” - Claude Monet
Research
Claude Monet, a founding father of French Impressionist painting, revolutionized the art world with his innovative approach to capturing the transient effects of light and color in nature. Monet's process was characterized by painting en plein air (outdoors), allowing him to directly observe and depict the changing conditions of the landscape. He often painted the same scene multiple times to capture the varying atmosphere at different times of day and in different seasons.
Claude Monet's house in Giverny, nestled in the Normandy region of France, became not just his home but a profound source of inspiration for his art. Purchased in 1883, Monet meticulously designed the gardens, which would become the subject of many of his most famous paintings, including the iconic "Water Lilies" series. The house, with its vibrant pink crushed brick façade and green shutters, reflects Monet's personal taste and love for color. Inside, the rooms are decorated with his collection of Japanese prints, which greatly influenced his work. The gardens, divided into the Clos Normand flower garden in front of the house and the Japanese-inspired water garden with its famous lily pond and Japanese bridge, were crafted by Monet to be a living painting, ever-changing with the seasons and light, perfectly embodying the Impressionist movement's fascination with the natural world and its transient beauty.
Flow
Inspiration for Visuals
The Main House
The path the user will take to reach the gallery. The corridor will be full of pictures from Monet's life, his paintings, and his house. The user can then leave the gallery and go to the 'garden,' where they can find the puzzle.
The Gallery
Inspired by the studio at Monet's house, the gallery lets the user pick which painting they want to solve as a puzzle. Upon selecting, the user can experience a change in environment through the room's window.
The Environment
The environment will reflect the painting the user has picked. for this environment, my inspiration was the painting 'Water lilies.' I want to replicate the closest to what Monet saw while he painted for the user to understand his point of view.
The Puzzle pieces
I made the puzzle pieces in nomad sculpt, I tried to replicate the texture of a impressionist painting.
Start Menu
Interaction Design
Hand Representation
Users can see the controllers as hands in the environment. Hands are animated, i.e., hands are grabbing when interacting with objects, and hands will point when teleporting.
Teleportation and Continuous movement
Users will explore the house and environment through teleportation and continuous movement.
Grabbales and Sockets
Users will be able to grab and place puzzle pieces from the palette to an empty canvas.
The Easel and Palette
The easel will be placed right before the subject of the painting. (which in itself is a clue). Size of puzzle pieces will be based of difficulty of level. Puzzle pieces will also have texture to showcase ‘strokes’ of the painting
Prototype Video