Monet & Friends Alive Opens at THE LUME Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields launched the second year’s content of its latest multi-sensory experience with Monet & Friends Alive. After more than 235,000 guests visited Van Gogh Alive in its inaugural year, THE LUME Indianapolis continues to transform the museum’s entire fourth floor into a three-dimensional masterpiece with nearly 30,000 square feet of immersive galleries highlighting the works of famed French impressionist Oscar-Claude Monet, known as the father of Impressionism.

THE LUME Indianapolis, boasting 120 floor-to-ceiling high-definition projectors, remains the largest continuous exhibition space in Newfields’ 139-year history. The one-of-a-kind Monet & Friends Alive experience, created and produced by Australian-based Grande Experiences, invites guests back to a time where the face of European art was set to change forever, examining the world of Impressionism across three main movements: Metropolitan, A Day in the Life and En Plein Air. The masterpieces of the Impressionists come to life with a rich, dynamic display of light, color and sound. Breathtaking paintings will be projected on an enormous scale with vivid detail to bring back, larger than life, the bold brushstrokes of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne and more. Guests will indulge their senses and enjoy the sights of 19th-century Paris through the eyes of the painters who immortalized them. Set to music by Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Offenbach, Monet & Friends Alive is an immersive experience that stimulates all the senses. This year Newfields is hosting an artist search to be a part of THE LUME, and one’s digital work to be displayed as a featurette, a short digital art production, to accompany the main Monet & Friends Alive experience.

“After soaring success in its inaugural year, THE LUME Indianapolis featuring Monet & Friends Alive will undoubtedly be a memorable experience for guests of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in learning more about Impressionism, or those who are experiencing a museum for the very first time,” said Jonathan Berger, Vice President of Marketing and External Affairs at Newfields. “We are also thrilled to be able to offer local talent an opportunity to be a part of the final experience and showcase their work in a world-class museum. We’re excited to see how this year’s Monet  & Friends Alive experience will impact those in our community, the Midwest and nationwide. Newfields was transformed by last year’s Van Gogh Alive experience, so this year we’re continuing to look for ways to add new surprises, educate our visitors and welcome new faces to the museum.”

“Creating the Monet & Friends Alive experience has been one of our most challenging yet enjoyable projects at Grande Experiences.” said Bruce Peterson, Owner of Grande Experiences. “With its focus on a dozen or more of the very best French Impressionist artists, along with the wonderful complementary musical score and a host of other poignant sensory elements, Monet & Friends Alive is sure to be a mesmerising follow-up to our recent Van Gogh Alive experience. THE LUME remains an extraordinary way to experience art from a new perspective. Newfields, like us, understand the importance of art and are driven to encourage new and diverse audiences to step through the doors to experience a digital production like never before.”

Once again the final gallery will feature physical works of art, setting Newfields’ experience apart from national competitors. This year several original works of Impressionist art from the IMA’s permanent collection will be featured, including Newfields’ original Monet piece, Charing Cross Bridge (about 1900). Other highlights include Landscape at Auvers, Farm Entrance on the Rue St. Remy by Paul Cezanne, Bouquet in a Vase (1878) by Pierre Renoir, Landscape (about 1865) by Camille Pissarro.

This year guests can enjoy a Monet-inspired café complete with specialty cocktails, sweet treats and small bites. Guests to the experience will discover more about Monet’s life in the “Monet and Play” interpretation room that will also feature an interactive selfie station, a robust wall timeline and an interactive coloring mural activity. After guests have finished in the galleries, they’ll be able to step into a life-size recreation of the famed bridge from Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies (1899).

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