Impressive Impressionist: Immersive Monet show opens in downtown Jacksonville

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to look at the world from inside an Impressionist painting, you have your chance to find out at "Beyond Monet," the new immersive art show in downtown Jacksonville.

The show, at the NoCo Center, uses dozens of overhead projectors to splash the works of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet onto the 26-foot-high walls and floors. The paintings aren't static, though; waves crash, clouds move, snow falls and trains pass as the images move and flow, sometimes so slowly it's hard to notice, other times at a frantic pace that might produce a little vertigo. Some paintings appear before your eyes, one brushstroke at a time. On others, visitors feel like they can almost touch the texture Monet created more than a century ago.

The show is heavy on landscapes, including the water lilies and haystacks that became Monet's signature. Few of the images used in the show feature people but almost all of them use soft colors that, when projected on a large scale, appear to turn the walls and floors into marble shot through with pastels.

Fanny Curtat, art historian for the project, said this show was more difficult to produce than "Beyond Van Gogh," which was at the center two years ago. Monet produced thousands of paintings in his career, which had to be whittled down to 400 for the immersive show.

"He died when he was 86 years old," she said. "There's a lot of material."

The show is at the NoCo Center, a former First Baptist Church auditorium at 712 N. Hogan St. in downtown Jacksonville. It's the same venue that housed "Beyond Van Gogh" and "Beyond King Tut" shows over the past two years.

It's produced by the Paquin Entertainment Group, the same firm that created the Van Gogh and King Tut shows. Other shows produced by Paquin focus on dinosaurs and Marvel superheroes. Curtat said plans are also in the works for another show based on a famous painter, but she wouldn't name the artist.

Moving pictures: Beyond Van Gogh is a moving art experience for Jacksonville fans

"We are thinking about it right now," she said. "Honestly, there is no limit to what you can do with this technology."

She said many Monet originals are in museums and private collections in the U.S. His work was popular in America at a time when "Impressionist" was considered an insult in his native France. Paquin had to purchase digital rights to the paintings in order to include them in the show.

Paquin puts on immersive shows around the world. The Monet show, for instance, is also currently showing in San Diego and comes to Virginia Beach in July before opening in St. Louis and Calgary.

Curtat said the show is a little different at every venue. The NoCo Center is one of the few venues she's visited that is dedicated to immersive shows. Usually, it's set up in a convention center or museum because it requires a lot of space.

The layout for the main projection room is the same as it was for the Van Gogh show. That allows the promoters to offer a double immersive art experience. Visitors can buy tickets to see "Beyond Monet," or a combination ticket that also includes the "Beyond Van Gogh" show. Each show runs on a 35-minute loop.

"Beyond Monet" is scheduled to be at the NoCo Center through June 16, but the Van Gogh and King Tut shows were both extended during their runs. Tickets are sold online at beyondmonet.com/city/jacksonville. Tickets are sold on a timed basis, but visitors can stay as long as they like. It takes about an hour to see everything. Tickets are $50 for the Monet show and $70 for the Monet and Van Gogh shows.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Immersive 'Beyond Monet' show opens in Jacksonville at NoCo Center