I just love VR apps about fine art and artists! Art Plunge is a short but satisfying program for the Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Google Daydream, which is now also available for the Oculus Rift VR headset.
Art Plunge allows you to actually step into three-dimensional versions of five famous paintings in the history of Western art:
- Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the most famous painting in the world (circa 1503–1506);
- The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889);
- The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (circa 1484–1486);
- The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo (circa 1512); and
- Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window by Johannes Vermeer, my favourite artist! (circa 1657–1659)
You can’t move around while you are inside the painting, but you can tilt your head from side to side, look around you, etc. In the Mona Lisa, Mona’s gaze follows you are you move your head from side to side, a subtle but realistic touch! It almost feels as if Mona is patiently waiting for you to speak to her. Very effective.
The app is only CAD$2.29, so what have you got to lose? Give it a try! I loved it, and I only wish I could step into more paintings. Perhaps the developers will issue an expansion pack sometime in the future. I would definitely pay more to be able to step into some more famous paintings!