PARIS.- Discover the collection of Spanish art in the musée du Louvre thanks to the multimedia displays designed as part of the Louvre – DNP Museum Lab project. This interactive and fun approach gives you the keys to understanding masterpieces by Zurbarán, Murillo and Goya.

Multimedia at the service of mediation
In the Murillo room and the neighbouring room (Denon wing, 1st floor), explore the collection of Spanish paintings through innovative digital mediation especially produced for the rooms of the Louvre. Understand the works better and learn how this little-known collection was put together.

Masterpieces of Spanish Painting
This display aims to help the visitor understand the paintings he is looking at: it is a question of answering the questions he might have faced with this group of works. In order to give him reference points as regards Spanish painting, the display offers commentary on the most emblematic works exhibited in the room, giving information that could not be guessed just by looking at the paintings. These keys to interpretation also help the visitor better understand other Spanish paintings. A largely visual interface and mutiple access points to information enable the transition from an initial intuitive approach to more educational content.

Spanish art in the musée du Louvre, the history of a collection
The collection of Spanish paintings of the musée du Louvre evolved over time and according to the vagaries of history. This multimedia display gives an overview of this evolution from the 17th century to the present and is organised into twelve major periods to help the visitor better understand how a museum collection is put together.

To represent the history of the collection, the familiar format of a chronology on a large wall surface has been kept, combined with touch screens, enabling several users to interact simultaneously to search for more detailed information on each of the periods. Museum Lab proposes an innovative system for the diffusion of information in a public place, in a form that combines the sharing of data and individual consultation.

Museum Lab, a multimedia laboratory
A fruitful partnership
The fruit of the collaboration between Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) and the musée du Louvre, Museum Lab was launched in 2006 with the aim of exploring new approaches to works of art. In Gotanda (Tokyo), its dedicated space offers the opportunity to encounter one or several works chosen from the rich collections of the musée du Louvre, through an itinerary comprising various angles of approach presented in the form of original multimedia content.

The first cycle of six presentations, from 2006 to 2009, attracted some 46,000 visitors, and its innovative approach to discovering art based on new technologies was enthusiastically received.

In October 2010, a second cycle began, marking a new stage for Museum Lab: a selection of the content developed during each new presentation in Tokyo was gradually installed in the rooms of the musée du Louvre in Paris as a way of sharing the pleasure of looking at art differently with as many people as possible. Thus, in June 2011, two displays dedicated to Sèvres porcelain were set up in the Department of Decorative Arts. In 2012 the Department of Egyptian Antiquities hosted two multimedia displays examining the conventions of Egyptian art.

Moreover, Museum Lab endeavours to share the fruit of its research with museums, cultural institutions and educational etablishments around the world to encourage public interaction with works of art. In December 2012, two displays developed as part of the Museum Lab project were installed at the Cité de la Céramique in Sèvres. In order to create opportunities to encounter art outside the museum, a programme of educational workshops for the discovery and appreciation of art, intended for use in classrooms in Japan, was developped as part of the Museum Lab project. This programme was proposed alongside the travelling exhibition Rencontres, organised on the initiative of the musée du Louvre as a sign of solidarity with the devastated regions of Tohoku and to contribute to its reconstruction. The tenth presentation marks the final stage of this second phase. Discussions are currently underway between the musée du Louvre and DNP to extend their collaboration for a third phase.

Learning to look differently
In order for the encounter with art in a museum to be an enriching moment and for the visitor to take an interest in the works exhibited, he should be given to the means to understand in depth what they represent, what they express, the context in which they were created and the way they became part of art history. Facilitating this access is the mission of Museum Lab. Making good use of the resources of the musée du Louvre and DNP, it conceives and develops innovative approaches to discovering art with the help of various digital technologies. The Louvre develops the scholarly content, mediation hypotheses and multimedia conception in collaboration with DNP. The multimedia displays are produced by the DNP teams in collaboration with those of the Louvre, thanks to the use of the skills and technological tools designed, produced and belonging to DNP.