How Tate Modern rebuilt the Paris studio of a doomed artist, using VR.
Modigliani's Paris studio, recreated in VR.
Once they've got most of the way around Tate Modern's new exhibition of works by Amedeo Modigliani, visitors can make a quick visit to the artist's last studio -- in Paris, in 1919 -- courtesy of a virtual reality tour.
In the studio, the rain is dripping through a hole in the roof into a bucket, a cigarette is still smouldering on the table; it seems as though the artist has just stepped out, and will return in a moment. While he is away, visitors can sit in the studio by his stove and examine items -- like a can of sardines or an empty bottle -- to find out more about his turbulent life, and then go on to see the rest of the exhibition.
"What's really stunned me is the number of people who came out feeling like they could feel the heat of the stove, we've had a lot of that, and feeling they were able to smell the dankness and the paints. There something really interesting about the brain's power to make you think you are where your eyes tell you that you are," said Tate's head of digital content Hilary Knight.
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