From Madrid to La Rural: the 'Art Masters' experience brings the Prado Museum to life in virtual reality.

The experience is fascinating and worth experiencing at least once. Art Masters It arrives in Argentina as an unprecedented proposal for augmented virtual reality inspired by none other than great works from the Prado Museum .

We had the opportunity to "live" in this extraordinary parallel reality during the Impressionist mega-exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris . Along with the display of dozens of works from the second half of the 19th century, the public could venture into a journey where the artists themselves came to life and shared their creative process. Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Auguste Renoir, among others, were within easy reach.

Starting this Thursday , at the Frers Pavilion in La Rural, the proposal is to meet the great masters of art housed at the Prado Museum in Spain, through five masterful works by Velázquez, Goya, Rubens, Bosch, and Veronese.

The tour is itinerant, through what is known as multi-user virtual reality (MVR) , also known as the metaverse , which exalts the poetic reinterpretation of these masterpieces. The experience combines history, art, innovation, and knowledge. It is, in short, another way of experiencing art, thanks to technological advancements.

The initiative was developed by Acciona Cultura in collaboration with the Prado. Those who dare to put on the augmented reality devices—surely a majority —will be immersed in a three-dimensional environment through interactive storytelling.

As in the virtual Impressionist exhibition in Paris, the tour at Art Masters is also guided by a virtual character . It's a museum security guard on his last day of work, who introduces visitors to museum spaces inaccessible to the general public—for example, the restoration studio—and opens the doors to five masterpieces that come to life. They are "Las Meninas" by Diego Velázquez; "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch; "The Sabbath" by Francisco de Goya; "Venus and Adonis" by Paolo Veronese; and "The Sense of Sight" by Peter Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, part of the "Five Senses" series.

We spoke with Daniel Grinbank , the driving force behind this innovative proposal in Argentina, which will remain open until October.

–Is Art Masters similar to the immersive Impressionist experience that premiered last year at the Musée d'Orsay?

–The exhibition An Evening with the Impressionists. Paris 1874 , which was originally presented at the Musée d'Orsay, is now shown in other parts of Paris. It uses the same system as Art Masters , except that the one we're presenting in Buenos Aires has a higher resolution in terms of technology. In terms of artistic character, it's very similar. In Art Masters , in addition to the five iconic works, there are other elements unique to the Prado Museum, such as access to other galleries prior to the augmented reality one.

–Do these immersive proposals increase the public's interest in art or in visiting museums? Or is it just entertainment?

–I think it falls under the area of ​​entertainment, it falls under the area of ​​culture; there's a very thin line between one thing and the other. I have no doubt we're presenting a high-level cultural experience that connects different audiences. Perhaps they're not museum audiences. And I'd also add an important point: the issue of distance. We're bringing the Prado Museum here, which can only be seen if you travel to Madrid. Of course, when people visit the Prado, they have a different experience, but I think seeing this exhibition sparks interest in getting to know the Prado Museum, which broadens the experience. I also think the success of the immersive Impressionist exhibition in Paris prompted museums to step up their game to focus on these audiovisual contents, which require very large investments. This experience was undoubtedly triggered by the virtual reality exhibition , *An Evening with the Impressionists* in Paris.

–What will the Art Masters process be like? What will be considered among the selected works?

–It has a musical curation, with music composed by a French musician who was in charge of the musicalization of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He curated the entire augmented virtual experience, which means that, in addition to all the playfulness and the possibility of interaction, there's a sound element that enhances the experience. These technologies have an enormous dynamic of evolution that attracts many audiences. There's another proposal now at Notre Dame de Paris, which I was seeing, and it's fantastic. If you were impressed by what you saw at the Musée d'Orsay, this will seem far superior in terms of technological evolution.

–Why were works by Velázquez, Bosch, Goya, Veronese, Rubens and Brueghel chosen?

–Masterpieces were chosen that have basically been very important for many centuries. We are the first to bring this augmented virtual reality experience through an agreement with the Prado Museum. This initiative has only been seen in one other country: China. As Prado experts say, it's a way of paving the way for creating experiences of this kind for other museums, because, according to the Prado curators, there's always the idea of ​​having an imaginary museum, of being able to use the works in the collection, to be inspired to imagine what it would be like to go to Rubens' studio or what "The Garden of Earthly Delights" would be like if you experienced it from the inside.

–With your extensive experience in the entertainment industry, do you see the public's relationship with art changing with proposals like these or the immersive ones by Van Gogh, Klimt, and Frida Kahlo, among others?

–I think exhibitions in general definitely offer a different perspective, primarily due to cost issues. The works you mention are scattered across museums in different countries, and to experience them, people would have to travel. This experience somehow brings you closer to the museum or the artist. They're different experiences that enrich and bring you closer. And they also broaden the audience. These initiatives reach a different, familiar audience, one that could only be included in a tourism program. Yes, I think it broadens the audience and generates a dissemination and diffusion of extraordinary artistic works. And also, by being a technological event, it offers another viewing opportunity, generating a different experience.

–When you go to a museum, you engage all your senses with a work of art. How would you define the subject's experience of art in this augmented reality proposal?

–These experiences, which I've seen in other museums, offer other types of comforts. You see these iconic paintings perhaps pushed by other visitors; unless you go at a specific time, you don't have the freedom that augmented reality offers. Certainly, they are different experiences. I think it's fantastic that both possibilities can coexist. We're bringing the Prado Museum here, just as we brought Van Gogh, and even the immersive Frida Kahlo exhibition, which is part of this expansion of our offering. Often, when an exhibition is about an artist, the works may be in different museums. This proposal, less solemn than a museum, enriches and expands audiences, while bringing a cultural experience closer.

The augmented virtual reality (AR) experience will have three key moments . A physical introductory gallery contextualizes the history of the Museo del Prado and the selected works. Secondly, there will be a multi-user AR (multi-user AR) experience , where visitors are immersed in the paintings from a unique perspective. Finally, there is the interactive closing gallery , to deepen the experience and connect with the symbolic elements of the works.

The curatorship was carried out in collaboration with the Museo del Prado team , under the supervision of Alejandro Vergara, Head of Conservation of Flemish Painting and Northern Schools.

If the fidelity of Art Masters ' artistic representation surpasses what we experienced at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, we can anticipate that it will be unforgettable and moving . It's the experience of being close to the art we love, providing us with emotions as genuine as real life. Or perhaps, in this era of post-truth, fake news, and ubiquitous disinformation wars, virtual reality is more authentic.

A significant detail for the stirrup: the narration by the virtual guide of the Prado Museum will be in neutral Spanish , Grinbank told us, which we received with relief, given that our hearing in our own territory is better adapted to a Spanish without Castilianisms.

Art Masters Argentina begins this Thursday, Tuesday through Sunday at La Rural, with admission by appointment. Tickets range from 20,000 to 40,000 pesos.