+ VIRTUAL MAGRITTE (PERPETUAL MOTION 1998) Real-Time Virtual Environment



Here, Virtual Reality technology is used to situate the viewer inside the space depicted in a painting. When we see a painting of a space we can imagine how it might be to experience and inhabit that space. With VR technology it is possible to construct and enter the space depicted in the image.


The subject of this research experiment was Réné Magrittes' Le Mouvement Perpetuel (Perpetual motion) from 1935. The painting depicts an area of water which reflects the environment and as such it is one of a number of experiments carried out that explore reflection in virtual space. To create the reflection the space is duplicated, reversed and turned upside down so the reflection is as 'real' as the rest of the space.


I have a research interest in the spaces and architectures represented in media, in particular film, painting and drawing. It is not necessary to be present in, or to touch a particular space in order for us to engage with it in a meaningful way just like a daydream it is still a 'lived space'.

The reconstruction of the world depicted in Magrittes work was in itslef an engaging research process, matching colours, shapes and textures

+ The world and its reflection: the digital environment depicted in Magritte's Le Mouvement Perpetuel from 1935










+ Above Left: An image of Rene Magrittes', Le Mouvement Perpetuel from 1935
+ Above Right: Perpetual Motion VR. With real time reflection and 360 views.
+ Lower Left: With the virtual environment it is possible to go into the water and enter the reflection.
+ Lower Right: In the virtual environment we can see from all sides.