Review: Claude Monet: the Immersive Experience in Belfast fills the senses with inspiration of leading French Impressionist painter

Carlisle Memorial Church – once home to one of the largest Methodist congregations in Belfast – hasn’t been a place of worship since the early 1980s, but it has opened its doors to art admirers of all ages as the atmospheric home for Claude Monet: the Immersive Experience.

The building’s Gothic Revival style lends itself perfectly to this new visitor attraction, drawing on the heritage of Belfast’s architectural legacy and combining it with a totally new way for the public to enjoy art.

The team behind Claude Monet: the Immersive Experience is Exhibition Hub, and its live-entertainment partner Fever, which presented a similar exhibition dedicated to the works of Van Gogh earlier this year in the same location.

Northern Ireland World was invited to try the experience and found that even if you had previously enjoyed Van Gogh: the Immersive Experience, you will certainly not be disappointed by this new unique digital art exhibition dedicated to Monet.

Stepping inside Carlisle Memorial Church from the bustling traffic you begin a truly amazing journey through Monet’s life and career, where you can enjoy his artistic genius regardless of how much or how little you already know about him.

If you are thinking this is an ordinary art exhibition, think again. It begins with informative panels about Monet and Impressionism, followed by stunning installations of the atelier in Giverny, the artist’s place of work and inspiration and the world renowned gardens.

The immersive gallery experience itself features Exhibition Hub’s award-winning, 4K digital mapping techniques through which visitors are fully enveloped in Monet’s brilliant and contemplative works in a 3,500 square-foot space.

All you have to do is sit down and allow yourself to be captivated as Monet’s masterpieces are literally animated under your feet and 360° around you.. Give yourself time to relax in the immersive gallery as your senses are filled with with brilliance of his works and prepare to be thrilled as images of dancing butterflies, colourful flowers and fish flutter across your body as you chill out in this hugely enjoyable experience.

After you’ve been totally enthralled by the experience, there’s the opportunity for children and grown-ups alike to engage their imagination, by completing Monet’s paintings by colouring in or sketching a new creation.

In my opinion, the optional virtual reality experience is one that really shouldn’t be missed and is worth paying extra for. This uniquely breathtaking experience puts you right into Monet’s life by placing you in stunning re-creations of his atelier and his luscious gardens at Giverny and transports you right into the heart of some of his best known paintings.

The exhibition also features a gift shop and toilet facilities.

Claude Monet: the Immersive Experience is running throughout the summer months until September and is a perfect and most relaxing, yet informative, way to spend at least an hour. For more information and tickets, go to Fever’s marketplace here.