For the first time, the paintings of Sir Kyffin Williams have been brought to life in a new immersive experience at the National Library of Wales.
Technology similar to that used for exhibitions of Van Gogh, Cézanne and LS Lowry will immerse visitors in the mountain landscapes, hillfarms and stormy seas created by the painter, who is considered the defining Welsh artist of the 20th Century.
Images from Williams’s oil paintings such as the hill farmer and sheepdog are animated in a 360-degree centrepiece and Sir Kyffin’s life story is narrated by Sir Bryn Terfel in a bilingual presentation, with original paintings illuminated on the walls.
The National Library, which received grants of £500,000 to fund the project, said it hoped it will introduce a new audience to Sir Kyffin’s work.
There are also interactive installations including a recreation of a self-portrait which can be touched, giving visitors a sense of the texture of Sir Kyffin’s oil paintings.
He painted using an impasto technique – where paint is applied so thickly on to a canvas that it stands out in three dimensions.
Sir Kyffin, who was born on Anglesey in 1918, had a long relationship with the National Library, in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, which has about 2,000 pieces of his work in its collection.