TACOMA, Wash. — Step inside the Tacoma Armory's "Imagine Monet" exhibition and you're immediately surrounded by color and bold brush strokes painted to capture an emotion or the changing light. What you're witnessing is a turning point in the history of painting.
"Because of photography," said Julien Baron, one of the producers of this exhibition.
Photography and even film had already begun to document reality in Claude Monet's day at the turn of the century.
"Before photography painters had to be as realistic as possible but after that, they could choose the medium as another way to express their feelings," Baron said.
Opening two years after "Imagine Van Gogh" played here, this experience celebrates a painter who was not such a tortured artist.
"This is an immersive experience about the joyful artist," Tacoma Arts Live president David Fischer said. "About the beauty that the artist sees in nature, and because Monet really launched Impressionism, he is one of the most important artists in art history, and has influenced so much."
Baron said Monet was an obvious choice for the immersive exhibition.
"Monet is the first painter of immersion," he said.
His series of larger than life water lily paintings originally exhibited at the Musee de L'Orangerie were meant to convey peace and tranquility to visitors who'd survived the First World War
This exhibit may also sooth those passing through.
"I think people can expect a feeding of the soul and a sense, in a time where there's so much chaos around us, of such beauty and warmth and joy and color," Baron said.
After the immersive experience, made up of more than 200 paintings, people can visit a little mock up French town that offers backdrops for Instagram worthy photos and opportunities to create your own Monet-like water lily.
"It's a restorative experience as well as a bit of an art history experience," Fischer said.
"Imagine Monet" runs at the Tacoma Armory through May 5th. Tickets start at $34. The Armory is located on South Yakima Way in Tacoma.
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