The Studio: European Masterpieces come to life

Thu 24 Jun 2021

For the duration of ‘European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’ experience 500 years of European art history by entering The Studio, located within the exhibition space at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

The Studio offers an array of experiences — be surprised, delighted, challenged and entertained — whether through newly developed multimedia interactives or opportunities to draw from life. An immersive theatrical experience will transport you to historical Europe through the exhibition’s themes in distinct zones and vignettes. Draw using supplied materials, take inspiration from their surroundings to create your own work, then choose to share via SMS or Instagram for display on The Studio walls.

LIST OF WORKS: Discover the artworks

DELVE DEEPER: Read more about the exhibition

WATCH: The Met Curators highlight their favourite works

Design concepts for The Studio

The Studio comes to life

Place yourself in ‘By the Seashore’ by Auguste Renoir

Swoon to sounds that span 500 years

At the northern end of The Studio, our nod to the iconic Paris Opera is realised with a dramatic stage, adorned with mirrors and stylised theatre flats, activated daily with live performances. Swoon to the sounds of student musicians from Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium as they perform a repertoire of Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic music that spans the 500 years of the exhibition itself.

Draw from costumed models inspired by artworks

At the southern end of The Studio, every afternoon costumed models recreate scenes from three works in the exhibition: Johannes Vermeer’s Allegory of the Catholic Faith c.1670–72, Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s Broken Eggs 1756 and Marie Denise Villers’s Marie Josephine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (died 1868) 1801, so that patrons can practise drawing similar scenes to those in the exhibition from life. In the central part of The Studio, still-life displays made with jewels, vessels, fruit and fabric are inspired by the works in the exhibition.

Allegory of the Catholic Faith c.1670–72

Broken Eggs 1756

Marie Josephine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (died 1868) 1801

Animated screens bring artworks to life

In addition to these live activations, scenes from these European masterworks are enlarged and reproduced in the space via multimedia and graphic treatments. You are invited to peer into the distance to see a castle on a cliff in Lucas Cranach the Elder’s The Judgment of Paris c.1528 and to sit on the steps and inhabit the town square in front of Nicolas Poussin’s Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man 1655. Animated screens bring to life works by Alfred Sisley and Vincent van Gogh, while a recreation of Auguste Renoir’s By the Seashore 1883 will transport you to the sea side. An upscaled version of Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, France, will frame this experience.

Multimedia interactives

The Studio’s multimedia interactives provide opportunities to connect with paintings in the exhibition with special focuses on music, symbolism, and the connections between the artists. The words of Dante and Voltaire frame an interactive animation that explores the themes of fate and temptation. Embrace the allegory of love and music through five animated paintings, each equipped with motion sensors that trigger music produced in collaboration with students at the Conservatorium. Also developed through a local collaboration, the artist interactive uses a 3D model of the exhibition generated by QUT’s ViseR Lab to visualise networks of influence between the great artists of European history.

Mobile site

A mobile site accessible on personal devices within the space also provides fresh perspectives and pathways into the exhibition content. Themed tours are a key feature of the site: the tours can be followed along journeys that visit multiple artworks or used as individual bite-sized stops relating to single artworks. The site enables users to zoom in on artworks and symbols, access content from the Metropolitan Museum’s online collection and compare their own experiences with other visitors through interactive polls. Along with the contributions of QAGOMA volunteer guides in developing the the themed tours, the Gallery’s guiding community has also developed audio descriptions for visitors with vision impairment.

Multisensory experience

Pushing beyond the two-dimensionality of painting, a uniquely multisensory experience has been created through combining a sensory themed audio tour on the mobile site with two 3D renderings in the drawing room of The Studio. Visitors of all abilities are able to choose the sensory tour at the start of the exhibition and be guided through to tactile reworkings of Pieter Claesz’s Still Life with Skull and a Writing Quill 1628 and Auguste Renoir’s By the Seashore 1883.

This is a space designed for everyone: people of all ages, from lifelong art enthusiasts to first-time visitors, and we can’t wait for you to experience The Studio at European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’.

Tamsin Cull is Head of Public Engagement and Terry Deen is Head of Learning, QAGOMA

This Australian-exclusive exhibition was at the Gallery of Modern Art from 12 June until 17 October 2021 and organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Art Exhibitions Australia.

Featured image: (left) Costumed model recreates the scene from Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (died 1868) / (right) Marie Denise Villers, France 1774–1821 / Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (died 1868) 1801 / Oil on canvas / 161.3 x 128.6cm / Mr and Mrs Isaac D Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D Fletcher, 1917 / 17.120.204 / Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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