This autumn, visitors to the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre, will be able to see the Mona Lisa as an experience of virtual reality. The project called ‟Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass”, on display from October 24 to February 24, 2020.The curators of the exhibition worked alongside HTC Vive Arts (a subsidiary of HTC Electronics). The virtual reality experience based on new research throws light on the techniques of the Florentine artist and also focuses on the identity of his model that has caused so many discussions and disagreements over the centuries. It will also be available for home ‟use”, after online registration.
According to the press release, ‟visitors will have an immersive experience of the most iconic painting in the world, stepping behind the glass to access the intriguing portrait up close in an entirely new, transformative way”.
It is still not clear whether the exhibition will include the Salvator Mundi painting, sold as a Da Vince work in 2017 by Christie’s New York for $450 million. A Louvre press officer stated that ‟there is nothing new on this matter: the Louvre Museum requested the painting for the exhibition and is waiting for an answer from its owner”.
The exhibition will include the five Da Vinci paintings belonging to the Louvre collection and according to the Museum’s website :‟The 500th anniversary of the Italian master’s death is a unique opportunity for the Louvre to bring together most of the 14 to 17 works attributed to Leonardo with his five big paintings in the Parisian Museum”.
