“There is no such thing as too much Monet,” says art critic Jonathan Jones. “His innate genius is worn so lightly it is always intoxicating.”
For the first time in several years, French teachers Rikke Sommer and Nadine Haymaker co-organized a field trip for their French 3, 3 Honors, and 4 Honors students. Students took a school bus to the Del Mar Fairgrounds to see Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience.
Mme. Sommer described the exhibition, saying, “It’s in these big, industrial-style buildings… it’s a sort of full-body experience where you walk in the paintings. It’s a visual light experiment. You’re going to get a 3D experience of some of the paintings, Monet’s paintings. You’ll be in a room where it’s like you’re walking in the field of poppies in one of his paintings.”
Claude Monet, who was French, was an important artist in the Impressionist movement, which occurred during the latter half of the 19th century, according to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. According to Sotheby’s, Impressionism is “a style of painting developed in France during the mid-to-late 19th century; characterizations of the style include small, visible brushstrokes that offer the bare impression of form, unblended color and an emphasis on the accurate depiction of natural light.”
Claude Monet’s paintings illustrated these unblended brush strokes, and focused largely on nature and his surroundings. He often painted at his property in Giverny, France, which featured colorful gardens, and the lilypad-filled ponds which Monet is famous for – according to Jones, “His paintings of waterlilies floating on placid water are his most visionary works of all.”
The Beyond Monet exhibition displayed these world-renowned works on a large scale, with a modern twist. It consists of two rooms, though the main attraction is the second room. The room features floor-to-ceiling projections of over 400 different paintings, which cycle through, and feature moving elements and transitions.
Mme. Sommer explained, “The language department doesn’t often have any field trips and French isn’t very present in the San Diego region, so it’s really one of those rare occasions where we have something that really ties into what we do and that’s quite extraordinary… it’s also a way of experiencing [art] differently.”
Despite this, Eleanor Meyer (‘26), who went on this trip, said, “It was really relaxing because we just got to sit and enjoy the art. It was really immersing to have the art projected all around me, and the music added to the world that Monet created with his paintings.”
Recently, students across French 3 and 4 spent time studying art, focusing on the impressionism and post-impressionism periods, and artists including Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. Mme. Sommer said, “[The exhibit] ties into the unit we just worked on about art, and how to describe a painting. It’s essentially tying into work [students] have done here in class where they have described paintings. They all had to find a painting that they shared with the class. Many of them did use Monet paintings.” She added, “I hope it’ll give [the students] all a better understanding of Monet’s paintings, by having an interaction with his paintings, and I hope that it’ll maybe inspire some students to know him better, but also really appreciate his art.”
For many students, the field trip met the teachers’ hopes. Eleanor said, “The field trip helped me better understand the history of impressionism because I was able to experience the paintings in a new way. It showed me what life was like during Monet’s time as well.”
Marly Berlin (‘26) added, “It’s so immersive and so fun. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it.”
